William Butler Yeats

In this latest addition to a successful series, Poetry for Young People: William Butler Yeats, ed. by Jonathan Allison, illus. by Glenn Harrington, a well-researched biographical introduction precedes 26 of the poet's works, many of which reflect the mystery and beauty of Yeats's native Ireland. A dramatic painting of a rocky Sligo coast accompanies ""The Meditation of the Old Fisherman,"" which, according to a note introducing the poem, recalls a conversation between a Sligo fisherman and the poet; his famous ""The Second Coming"" (""And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,/ Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born"") inspires a chilling portrait of a monster/man crawling out of darkness, followed immediately by a gold-flecked landscape for ""Sailing to Byzantium,"" against which a man holds closed his golden cape, like wings folded.