Meditations in Time of Civil War

Abstract

The new Ireland created by the “Treaty” appeared to be ready to honour Yeats. The Ard Fheis of Sinn Fein nominated him as a delegate to an Irish Race Congress which was held in Paris during January 1922. To this he went and spoke on the work of the Abbey, on Synge and on the poets of 1916. Trinity College (which had thrown in its lot with the “Treaty” party) added a testimonial, and during the year he received a welcome academic distinction when the degree of Doctor of Letters in Dublin University was conferred upon him. Within two months The Trembling of the Veil, Later Poems and Plays in Prose and Verse appeared, and all three books were well received by the critics. These successes gratified him, but there were moments when he felt tired. He could plan and think as never before ; but he could no longer hope to achieve all that he planned and thought; he began to rage at the “absurdity” of growing old:

What shall I do with this absurdity —

O heart, O troubled heart — this caricature,

Decrepit age that has been tied to me As to a dog’s tail?