W. B. Yeats, The Tower

Wim Van Mierlo (University of Loughborough)

Ed. by Andrew Radford, University of Glasgow
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1928

Places

England (Publication/ performance)
Ireland, Republic of (Eire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem collection

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Written at the height of his creative capacities, W. B. Yeats’s

The Tower

was issued simultaneously in London and New York by Macmillan in 1928; the earliest poems date from 1921. The book is by far his greatest volume, containing some of his best-known poems such as “Sailing to Byzantium”, “Among School Children”, and “Leda and the Swan”. Tightly structured and symbolically rich,

The Tower

is also one of Yeats’s more challenging collections because of its enigmatic symbolism. Sean O’Faoláin complained that Yeats’s verse was “often obscure to a fault” (p. 528). In many respects, the opening poem, “Sailing to Byzantium”, with its closed, obscure symbolism and confusing syntax, is the volume’s first obstacle. Exacerbating the difficulties, the influence of

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1889 words

Citation: Van Mierlo, Wim. "The Tower". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 September 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7951, accessed 16 October 2024.]

W. B. Yeats, The Tower

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

Save this article

Leave Feedback