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Introduction to the Poetry of William Butler Yeats
01/05/2026
Introduction to the Poetry of William Butler Yeats
Mouthfuls of Air: A podcast devoted to 19th and 20th Century English Language Poetry Season 1: The Poetry of William Butler Yeats Episode 1: A brief introduction to Yeat's poetry, with "The Second Coming" as an example. Then a look at the world that Yeats grew up in: a rapidly changing Ireland in which the Irish Catholic majority is asserting political and economic power, an Irish Protestant middle class searches for an identity that is not dependent on the British Ascendancy, and the search for meaning that neither traditional Christianity nor the new rationalism can satisfy. The next episode will look at Yeats in the 1890s. Poems include: "The Lake Isle of Innisfree", To Ireland in the Coming Times", "The Stolen Child", "The Second Coming". Bonus: Demonstration that "The Second Coming" can be sung to the tune of "Baa Baa Black Sheep".
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