The Poetry of W. B. Yeats at Blueberry Hill
St. Louis Poetry Center will host a benefit reading at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., on Sunday, April 22, 2012, from 4 to 6 p.m. “The Center Will Hold” will feature the work of W. B. Yeats (1865 – 1939), who was awarded the Nobel Laureate in Literature in 1923, the first Irishman to be so honored.
Reading from his work that spanned a half century will be Mary Ruth Donnelly, Mike Fagan, William Gass, Amy Kaiser, Tim O'Leary and Eamonn Wall.
One of the greatest poets of the twentieth century, William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin in 1865. He published his first volume of poetry “Crossways” at the age of 24. His fascination with Irish legends and history would lead him to become a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival. He helped to found the Irish Literary Theatre in 1899, which would later become the famed Abbey Theatre. There his own plays were performed along with those of J. M. Synge and others. Engaged in both the Irish and British literary and political establishments Yeats served in his later years in the Irish Senate. He was a master of traditional forms and was prolific throughout his life, publishing poetry, plays and essays. Some of his other books include “The Wild Swans at Coole” (1919), “The Tower” (1928) and “The Winding Stair and other Poems” (1935). It is widely acknowledged that Yeats is one of the few writers whose greatest works were written after the Nobel Prize was awarded. Lines from his poems have entered our language in some of the same way as has Shakespeare’s, whose sonnets the center presented last year. The title for this program is a twist on a much quoted line from “”The Second Coming”: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold . . ."
Tickets for the reading and champagne reception are $50. There will be a silent auction. For more information, call (314) 973-0616. Watch our website for the option to purchase tickets online.
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