1923. W. B. Yeats: "Luuletusi" (Selected Poems)

Iiri luuletaja, näitekirjanik, senaator ning Iiri kirjanduse taaselustamise suurim inspiratsioon ning üks Abbey teatri asutajatest,William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), pälvis Nobeli kirjanduspreemia aastal 1923, põhjenduseks Yeatsi "inspireeritud luule, mille vorm ning kõrgelennuline kunstilisus väljendavad terve riigi vaimsust" (vaba tõlge).


Yeats huvitus ning kirjutas Iiri legendidest ning ajaloolistest kujudest samamoodi nagu antiigi müütidest tuntud figuuridest ning samaaegselt refleksioone oma elust ning armastustest. Kuigi okultism ja müstika olid luule varasemates faasides prominentsemad ning luule muutus hiljem realistlikumaks, huvitus Yeats kogu elu jooksul astroloogiast, uuestisünnist ning spiritualismist.


Yeatsi väga tundeline luule on tihedasti Iirimaa ajalooga seotud ning kuna mul sellelaadsed teadmised suurel määral puuduvad, ei haaranud suur osa tema ballaadidest mind, kuid autori sõnakasutus ning intensiivsus ja hiiglaslik intratekstuaalsete elementide pagas on kindlasti austusväärne.

Üldrefleksiivsed luuletused ning hetked vaid korraks elule vaadates jäid enim hinge:


The Meditation of the Old Fisherman

You waves, though you dance by my feet like children at play,
Though you glow and you glance, though you purr and you dart;
In the Junes that were warmer than these are, the waves were more gay,
When I was a boy with never a crack in my heart.

The herring are not in the tides as they were of old;
My sorrow! for many a creak gave the creel in the cart
That carried the take to Sligo town to be sold,
When I was a boy with never a crack in my heart.

And ah, you proud maiden, you are not so fair when his oar
Is heard on the water, as they were, the proud and apart,
Who paced in the eve by the nets on the pebbly shore,

When I was a boy with never a crack in my heart.
(1886)


Beautiful Lofty Things

O'Leary's noble head;
My father upon the Abbey stage, before him a raging crowd:
'This Land of Saints,' and then as the applause died out,
'Of plaster Saints'; his beautiful mischievous head thrown back.
Standish O'Grady supporting himself between the tables
Speaking to a drunken audience high nonsensical words;
Augusta Gregory seated at her great ormolu table,
Her eightieth winter approaching: 'Yesterday he threatened my life.
I told him that nightly from six to seven I sat at this table,
The blinds drawn up'; Maud Gonne at Howth station waiting a train,
Pallas Athene in that straight back and arrogant head:

All the Olympians; a thing never known again.
(1938)


The Great Day

Hurrah for revolution and more cannon-shot!
A beggar upon horseback lashes a beggar on foot.
Hurrah for revolution and cannon come again!

The beggars have changed places, but the lash goes on.
(1938)