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    The Hour-Glass (verse)
    The Hour-Glass (verse)
    The Hour-Glass (verse)
    Ebook27 pages22 minutes

    The Hour-Glass (verse)

    By W. B. Yeats

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    About this ebook

    William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was an instrumental figure in the "Irish Literary Revival" of the 20th Century that redefined Irish writing. His father's love of reading aloud exposed him early on to William Shakespeare, the Romantic poets and the pre-Raphaelites, and developed an interest in Irish myths and folklore. Yeats was a complex man, who struggled between beliefs in the strange and supernatural, and scorn for modern science. He was intrigued by the idea of mysticism, yet had little regard for Christianity. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923, and received honorary degrees from Queen's University (Belfast), Trinity College (Dublin), and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. His Morality play, "The Hour Glass", appeared on stage as early as 1902, and underwent many revisions by its final version in 1922. The story presents a Fool, a Wise Man and an Angel who sort through questions of faith, doubt and the Wise Man's unrelenting rationalism. In this edition we have Yeats' verse version of the play.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigireads.com Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2011
    ISBN9781596744332
    The Hour-Glass (verse)
    Author

    W. B. Yeats

    William Butler Yeats is widely regarded as one of the finest English language poets. His eclectic output frequently draws on his chief passions for the occult and the history of his homeland. The poetry, while often mystical and romantic, can also be gritty, realistic and frequently political. Yeats was also a major playwright and founded the Abbey Theatre, Ireland’s national theatre. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.

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      Book preview

      The Hour-Glass (verse) - W. B. Yeats

      THE HOUR-GLASS

      (VERSE)

      BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

      A Digireads.com Book

      Digireads.com Publishing

      Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-4164-7

      Ebook ISBN 13: 978-1-59674-433-2

      This edition copyright © 2011

      Please visit www.digireads.com

      CONTENTS

      PERSONS IN THE PLAY

      THE HOUR-GLASS

      PERSONS IN THE PLAY

      WISE MAN.

      BRIDGET, his wife.

      TEIGUE, a fool.

      ANGEL.

      Children and Pupils.

      THE HOUR-GLASS

      The stage is brought out into the orchestra so as to leave a wide space in front of the stage curtain. Pupils come in and stand before the stage curtain, which is still closed. One pupil carries a book.

      FIRST PUPIL. He said we might choose the subject for the lesson.

      SECOND PUPIL. There is none of us wise enough to do that.

      THIRD PUPIL. It would need a great deal of wisdom to know what it is we want to know.

      FOURTH PUPIL. I will question him.

      FIFTH PUPIL. You?

      FOURTH PUPIL. Last night I dreamt that someone came and told me to question him. I was to say to him, 'You were wrong to say there is no God and no soul—maybe, if there is not much of either, there is yet some tatters, some tag on the wind—so to speak—some rag upon a bush, some bob-tail of a god.' I will argue with him,—nonsense though it be—according to my dream, and you will see how well I can argue, and what thoughts I have.

      FIRST PUPIL. I'd as soon listen to dried peas in a bladder, as listen to your thoughts.

      [Teigue the Fool comes in.]

      FOOL. Give me a penny.

      SECOND PUPIL. Let us choose a subject by chance. Here is his big book. Let us turn over the pages slowly. Let one of us put down his finger without looking. The passage his

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