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W. B. Yeats: A Poet Not in the Theatre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2021

Extract

Yeats’ difficulty in becoming a successful playwright is not surprising or unexpected. His own views on the public theatre precluded success, and it would have surprised Yeats as much as anyone if at any time in his career he had achieved much widespread popularity. His growth as a playwright was always away from the “pit” and the appearance of Four Plays for Dancers, The Only Jealousy of Emer, At the Hawk's Well, The Dreaming of the Bones, and Calvary (the first of which was produced in 1916), is in many ways a predictable outcome of much of his opinion of what drama should be. In a note to At the Hawk's Well in 1916 he had written:

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Tulane Drama Review 1959

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References

Note

1 According to Waley, the chorus is used to speak for a character when he dances, as well as comment on the action.