A Reader's Guide to William Butler Yeats

The poetry of William Butler Yeats presents unusual problems for the general reader. Yeats drew heavily upon mystical and theosophical systems of a more or less arcane nature. Moreover, he often referred to events in his own life and in the history of modem Ireland which require elucidition
for the non-specialist. A Reader's Guide to William Butler Yeats not only provides the background needed for an understanding of the works but also reveals the structure of images and meanings of the various lyrics.

John Unterecker , a leading scholar on Yeats, taught at Columbia University and the University of Hawaii.