Michael Robartes and the Dancer is a collection of poems by W. B. Yeats published in 1921 by the Cuala Press. Written in the years of war and revolution, it contains Easter, 1916, a meditation on the Dublin rising, and The Second Coming, one of the most quoted poems of the twentieth century.
Easter, 1916
The poem reflects on the leaders of the Easter Rising in Dublin, executed by the British, some of whom Yeats had known and disliked.
Its refrain about a terrible beauty expresses his mixed feelings of admiration, doubt and grief.
The Second Coming
Written in 1919, just after the First World War and during revolutions across Europe, the poem describes a world in which order is collapsing.
Its images of the widening gyre and the rough beast have been quoted endlessly in times of crisis.
A new voice
The collection also contains poems about Yeats's young wife, George, and their daughter, including A Prayer for My Daughter.
It shows Yeats developing the hard, symbolic and political style of his later masterpieces.
Anecdotes
The Cuala Press
The book was printed by the Cuala Press, run by Yeats's sisters, Elizabeth and Lily, near Dublin, in a small hand-printed edition.
A Vision
Many images of the collection, such as the gyres, come from the system Yeats and his wife developed through automatic writing, later published in A Vision.
Frequently asked questions
When was the collection published?
In 1921.
Which event does Easter, 1916 recall?
The Easter Rising in Dublin.
Who ran the Cuala Press?
Yeats's sisters, Elizabeth and Lily.