William Butler Yeats's early poetry is suffused with the radiant lyricism of Irish folklore and myth; the yearning romance and distinctly Irish voice of these first works of the Nobel laureate have inspired scores of poets. This splendid selection offers a distinctive sampling of the Yeatsian voice.

Among the many famed works included are "The Everlasting Voices," "Reconciliation," and "The Song of the Wandering Aengus." Each of these poems is filled with the sparkling magic and mysticism Yeats absorbed as a boy in Ireland. This sweetness is juxtaposed against an anguished realism grounded in the master poet's nationalist and political sympathies.