The Tower by William Butler Yeats BOOK REVIEW (Patron-Only Early Access)
Astounding poetry written by a poet who was deeply involved with The Occult.
Profound. Otherworldy. Gorgeously written.
SOURCES:
Cheeke Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LekgJgGNd0
Sailing to Byzantium Read by Dermot Crowley: https://youtu.be/345ttNxIvog?si=Ipg7U5UHMtMGGfEb
Crowley Fight: https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/william-butler-yeats-aleister-crowley-magic-duel
Freud’s Death Instinct: https://youtu.be/C1QAAuBRq5Y?si=f1TwQEtNHwih3GRv
Comments (9)
I will definitely be reading this one.
Happy (very) belated bday, my friend. Just snagged a copy of the book.
Excellent review as always. Its been 30+ years since reading Yeats in high school. Sounds like I may need to revisit. And Happy birthday! I celebrated number 49 yesterday...beware the Ides of March!
Always remember: die reading… The Tower by W. B. Yeats. Happy birthday, Cliff! (I spent way too long trying to come up with that one.)
Words to live by. Thank you very much Breffni!
Happy birthday Cliff! 🥂
Thank you very much Daniel!
Firstly, happy birthday Cliff! I thought it was today, but wasn’t entirely sure. Hope it’s a good one, even if the march of time frightens. Great review. It’s a real pleasure being able to see all these reviews of yours over the years. Your turn toward poetry, noted in your Hart Crane review, mirrors my own. I desperately want to read more Yeats, so this might be the one I go for. I am so interested in the occult and really want to research it more. So many artists I cherish engaged with it (I know you have expressed in the past not being particularly fond of the band Coil, but they’re one of my all time favorites, and they were BIG occultists.). Burroughs for sure was one. I remember reading about a group called, I believe, The Illuminitiates of Thanateros (fusing those two Freudian drives you mentioned). It might’ve been Burroughs who was related to that group, or maybe Genesis P-Orridge of Throbbing Gristle/Psychic TV. Burroughs and Genesis knew each other anyway, so I’m sure the truth is somewhere in this slurry of information. All that to say that I guess Yeats’s involvement with the occult further increases my interest in his work. This was a very nice way to start the week alongside breakfast. Again, I wish you a happy birthday, and look forward to whenever we get to chat again. Hopefully by then I’ll have made some significant progress on that trifecta of texts you mentioned recently (Black Sun, Story of the Eye, Sun and Steel). Cheers!
Thank you very much Nathaniel - that was a good pun, the “March of time” (March 10th) Haha I hope you enjoy Yeats. Absolutely nothing against COIL, I can appreciate their mysterious nature, I just haven’t heard something from them that “hit” me yet. Very interesting that they were involved with the occult. Yes same, the Occult element definitely adds a depth to Yeats. All these figures you mentioned seem connected one way or another. Seems plausible that you could trace the line of influence from Yeats to Burroughs. Cheers! Thank you so much for your kind words and birthday wishes. Have a good one, looking forward to our future discussions.