Both you that
understand
stringed instruments,
And how to mingle words and notes together
So artfully, that all the Art's but Speech
Delighted with its own music; and you that carry
The long twisted horn, and understand
The heady notes that, being without words,
Can hurry beyond Time and Fate and Change.
And how to mingle words and notes together
So artfully, that all the Art's but Speech
Delighted with its own music; and you that carry
The long twisted horn, and understand
The heady notes that, being without words,
Can hurry beyond Time and Fate and Change.
Yeats
B.
YEATS, VOL 2 ***
Produced by Emmy, mollypit and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www. pgdp. net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)
THE COLLECTED WORKS OF WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
THE KING'S THRESHOLD. ON
BAILE'S STRAND. DEIRDRE.
SHADOWY WATERS :: BEING
THE SECOND VOLUME OF
THE COLLECTED WORKS IN
VERSE & PROSE OF WILLIAM
BUTLER YEATS :: IMPRINTED
AT THE SHAKESPEARE HEAD
PRESS STRATFORD-ON-AVON
MCMVIII
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE KING'S THRESHOLD 1
ON BAILE'S STRAND 69
DEIRDRE 125
THE SHADOWY WATERS 179
APPENDIX I:
ACTING VERSION OF 'THE SHADOWY WATERS' 231
APPENDIX II:
A DIFFERENT VERSION OF DEIRDRE'S ENTRANCE 251
APPENDIX III:
THE LEGENDARY AND MYTHOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF THE PLAYS 254
APPENDIX IV:
THE DATES AND PLACES OF PERFORMANCE OF PLAYS 256
_The friends that have it I do wrong
When ever I remake a song,
Should know what issue is at stake:
It is myself that I remake. _
THE KING'S THRESHOLD
TO FRANK FAY
BECAUSE OF HIS BEAUTIFUL SPEAKING IN
THE CHARACTER OF SEANCHAN
_PERSONS IN THE PLAY_
KING GUAIRE
SEANCHAN (_pronounced_ SHANAHAN)
HIS PUPILS
THE MAYOR OF KINVARA
TWO CRIPPLES
BRIAN (_an old servant_)
THE LORD HIGH CHAMBERLAIN
A SOLDIER
A MONK
COURT LADIES
TWO PRINCESSES
FEDELM
THE KING'S THRESHOLD.
_Steps before the Palace of KING GUAIRE at Gort. A
table in front of steps at one side, with food on it,
and a bench by table. SEANCHAN lying on steps. PUPILS
before steps. KING on the upper step before a curtained
door. _
KING.
I WELCOME you that have the mastery
Of the two kinds of Music: the one kind
Being like a woman, the other like a man.
Both you that understand stringed instruments,
And how to mingle words and notes together
So artfully, that all the Art's but Speech
Delighted with its own music; and you that carry
The long twisted horn, and understand
The heady notes that, being without words,
Can hurry beyond Time and Fate and Change.
For the high angels that drive the horse of Time--
The golden one by day, by night the silver--
Are not more welcome to one that loves the world
For some fair woman's sake.
I have called you hither
To save the life of your great master, Seanchan,
For all day long it has flamed up or flickered
To the fast cooling hearth.
OLDEST PUPIL.
When did he sicken?
Is it a fever that is wasting him?
KING.
No fever or sickness. He has chosen death:
Refusing to eat or drink, that he may bring
Disgrace upon me; for there is a custom,
An old and foolish custom, that if a man
Be wronged, or think that he is wronged, and starve
Upon another's threshold till he die,
The common people, for all time to come,
Will raise a heavy cry against that threshold,
Even though it be the King's.
OLDEST PUPIL.
My head whirls round;
I do not know what I am to think or say.
I owe you all obedience, and yet
How can I give it, when the man I have loved
More than all others, thinks that he is wronged
So bitterly, that he will starve and die
Rather than bear it? Is there any man
Will throw his life away for a light issue?
KING.
It is but fitting that you take his side
Until you understand how light an issue
Has put us by the ears. Three days ago
I yielded to the outcry of my courtiers--
Bishops, Soldiers, and Makers of the Law--
Who long had thought it against their dignity
For a mere man of words to sit amongst them
At my own table.
Produced by Emmy, mollypit and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www. pgdp. net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)
THE COLLECTED WORKS OF WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
THE KING'S THRESHOLD. ON
BAILE'S STRAND. DEIRDRE.
SHADOWY WATERS :: BEING
THE SECOND VOLUME OF
THE COLLECTED WORKS IN
VERSE & PROSE OF WILLIAM
BUTLER YEATS :: IMPRINTED
AT THE SHAKESPEARE HEAD
PRESS STRATFORD-ON-AVON
MCMVIII
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE KING'S THRESHOLD 1
ON BAILE'S STRAND 69
DEIRDRE 125
THE SHADOWY WATERS 179
APPENDIX I:
ACTING VERSION OF 'THE SHADOWY WATERS' 231
APPENDIX II:
A DIFFERENT VERSION OF DEIRDRE'S ENTRANCE 251
APPENDIX III:
THE LEGENDARY AND MYTHOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF THE PLAYS 254
APPENDIX IV:
THE DATES AND PLACES OF PERFORMANCE OF PLAYS 256
_The friends that have it I do wrong
When ever I remake a song,
Should know what issue is at stake:
It is myself that I remake. _
THE KING'S THRESHOLD
TO FRANK FAY
BECAUSE OF HIS BEAUTIFUL SPEAKING IN
THE CHARACTER OF SEANCHAN
_PERSONS IN THE PLAY_
KING GUAIRE
SEANCHAN (_pronounced_ SHANAHAN)
HIS PUPILS
THE MAYOR OF KINVARA
TWO CRIPPLES
BRIAN (_an old servant_)
THE LORD HIGH CHAMBERLAIN
A SOLDIER
A MONK
COURT LADIES
TWO PRINCESSES
FEDELM
THE KING'S THRESHOLD.
_Steps before the Palace of KING GUAIRE at Gort. A
table in front of steps at one side, with food on it,
and a bench by table. SEANCHAN lying on steps. PUPILS
before steps. KING on the upper step before a curtained
door. _
KING.
I WELCOME you that have the mastery
Of the two kinds of Music: the one kind
Being like a woman, the other like a man.
Both you that understand stringed instruments,
And how to mingle words and notes together
So artfully, that all the Art's but Speech
Delighted with its own music; and you that carry
The long twisted horn, and understand
The heady notes that, being without words,
Can hurry beyond Time and Fate and Change.
For the high angels that drive the horse of Time--
The golden one by day, by night the silver--
Are not more welcome to one that loves the world
For some fair woman's sake.
I have called you hither
To save the life of your great master, Seanchan,
For all day long it has flamed up or flickered
To the fast cooling hearth.
OLDEST PUPIL.
When did he sicken?
Is it a fever that is wasting him?
KING.
No fever or sickness. He has chosen death:
Refusing to eat or drink, that he may bring
Disgrace upon me; for there is a custom,
An old and foolish custom, that if a man
Be wronged, or think that he is wronged, and starve
Upon another's threshold till he die,
The common people, for all time to come,
Will raise a heavy cry against that threshold,
Even though it be the King's.
OLDEST PUPIL.
My head whirls round;
I do not know what I am to think or say.
I owe you all obedience, and yet
How can I give it, when the man I have loved
More than all others, thinks that he is wronged
So bitterly, that he will starve and die
Rather than bear it? Is there any man
Will throw his life away for a light issue?
KING.
It is but fitting that you take his side
Until you understand how light an issue
Has put us by the ears. Three days ago
I yielded to the outcry of my courtiers--
Bishops, Soldiers, and Makers of the Law--
Who long had thought it against their dignity
For a mere man of words to sit amongst them
At my own table.
