Editing W. B. Yeats (section)

===Early poems===
Yeats first significant poem is "The Island of Statues", a fantasy work that takes [[Edmund Spenser]] and Shelley as its poetic models. It was serialized in the ''Dublin University Review''. Yeats wanted to include it in his first collection, but it was deemed too long and was never republished in his lifetime. Quinx Books first published the poem in its complete form 2014. Yeats first solo publication was the pamphlet ''Mosada: A Dramatic Poem'' (1886), in a print run of 100 copies paid for by his father. This was followed by the collection ''[[The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems]]'' (1889), which arranged a series of verse that dated as far back as the mid-1880s. The long title poem contains, in the words of his biographer [[R. F. Foster (historian)|R. F. Foster]], "obscure Gaelic names, striking repetitions [and] an unremitting rhythm subtly varied as the poem proceeded through its three sections":{{sfn|Foster|1997|pp=82–85}}
<poem style="margin-left: 2em;">We rode in sorrow, with strong hounds three,
Bran, Sceolan, and Lomair,
On a morning misty and mild and fair.
The mist-drops hung on the fragrant trees,
And in the blossoms hung the bees.
We rode in sadness above Lough Lean,
For our best were dead on Gavra's green.</poem>

"The Wanderings of Oisin" is based on lyrics from the [[Fenian Cycle]] of [[Irish mythology]] and displays the influence of both Sir Samuel Ferguson and the [[Pre-Raphaelite]] poets.<ref>Alspach, Russell K. "The Use by Yeats and Other Irish Writers of the Folklore of Patrick Kennedy". ''The Journal of American Folklore'', Vol. 59, No. 234, December 1946, pp. 404–412</ref> The poem took two years to complete and was one of the few works from this period that he did not disown in his maturity. ''Oisin'' introduces what was to become one of his most important themes: the appeal of a life of contemplation over a life of action. Following the work, Yeats never again attempted another long poem. His other early poems are meditations on the themes of love or mystical and esoteric subjects, and include ''Poems'' (1895), ''The Secret Rose'' (1897), and ''The Wind Among the Reeds'' (1899). The covers of these volumes were illustrated by Yeats's friend [[Althea Gyles]].<ref name="Gould ONB">{{Cite ODNB |last=Gould |first=Warwick |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/59193 |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2004 |chapter=Gyles, Margaret Alethea (1868–1949) |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/59193 |author-link=Warwick Gould |access-date=1 August 2015}}</ref>

In 1890 Yeats and [[Ernest Rhys]] co-founded the [[Rhymers' Club]],{{sfn|Hone|1943|p=83}} a group of London-based poets who met regularly in a Fleet Street tavern to recite their verse. Yeats later sought to mythologize the collective, calling it the "Tragic Generation" in his autobiography,<ref>Papp, James R. "Review [''The Rhymers' Club: Poets of the Tragic Generation'' by Norman Alford]". ''[[Nineteenth-Century Literature]]'', Vol. 50, No. 4, March 1996, pp. 535–538 {{JSTOR|2933931}}</ref> and published two anthologies of the Rhymers' work, the first one in 1892 and the second one in 1894. He collaborated with [[Edwin Ellis (poet)|Edwin Ellis]] on the first complete edition of William Blake's works, in the process rediscovering a forgotten poem, "Vala, or, the Four Zoas".<ref>Lancashire, Ian. [http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/169.html "William Blake (1757–1827)"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614094220/http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/169.html |date=14 June 2007}}. Department of English, University of Toronto, 2005. Retrieved on 3 June 2007.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=William Blake: The Four Zoas |url=http://travisfeldman.org/Blake/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926122146/http://www.travisfeldman.org/Blake/index.html |archive-date=26 September 2011 |access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref>