Autobiographies

Autobiographies is a collection of memoirs by the Irish poet and playwright W. B. Yeats (1865–1939), winner of the 1923 Nobel Prize in Literature. In the mid-1930s Yeats combined six autobiographical works into a single volume, forming a continuous account of the first fifty-eight years of his life: from his earliest childhood memories to his receipt of the Nobel Prize. The six works are Reveries over Childhood and Youth, The Trembling of the Veil, Dramatis Personae, Estrangement, The Death of Synge, and The Bounty of Sweden. In these pages Yeats recalls family, friends, and a host of cultural figures of his time; recounts his development as a poet and playwright; and looks back on his role in founding Dublin's Abbey Theatre, his involvement in the Irish nationalist movement, and his fascination with the occult and visionary experience. For Yeats, the book's most moving aspect is its record of the growth of his poetic imagination; he believed that the poet lives an allegorical life, and that the work is the commentary on that life. Autobiographies also embodies his conviction that life and work are interconnected and mutually illuminating, making it the most essential companion to his poetry and plays. This edition, edited by William H. O'Donnell and Douglas N. Archibald, includes detailed annotations and, for the first time, several outspoken passages from the early drafts, making it a scholarly edition of considerable authority.