When W.B. Yeats became the first Irish person to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, the Swedish Academy was crediting him with giving expression to xe2x80x98the spirit of a whole nationxe2x80x99. The prize established Yeats as the unofficial poet laureate of a country that had, in his own words, been xe2x80x98transformed utterlyxe2x80x99 during the preceding decade.
From the Celtic Twilight of the 1890s to his death in 1939, Yeatsxe2x80x99s writings offer a unique window through which to view the changing Ireland of his time. In PILGRIM SOUL, Daniel Mulhallxe2x80x99s highly accessible and illuminating guide to Yeats, the poetxe2x80x99s special role in Irish affairs is examined closely. Each chapter opens with a major Yeats poem through which Mulhall examines the historical events that inspired it. Along the way, he explores Yeatsxe2x80x99s xe2x80x98indomitablexe2x80x99 Irishness, the roots of his periodic disenchantment with Ireland and the conservative politics of his later years as well as the way Yeatsxe2x80x99s lifelong encounter with Irish affairs helped reshape his poetry.
Throughout his life, Yeats produced compelling images of his homeland for readers in Ireland and around the world. As a personal journey through Yeatsxe2x80x99s poetry and his life, PILGRIM SOULxc2xa0mirrors Daniel Mulhallxe2x80x99s own four decades as an ambassador for Ireland, its people and its culture.
