February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Andrew Bushe
DUBLIN — A large collection of the personal papers of writer and Nobel laureate W.B. Yeats, donated to Ireland’s National Library, on Sept. 7 reveal the extent of his interest in mysticism and the supernatural, a spokesman said.
The collection, about 100 notebooks and 130 files related to spiritualism, were donated to the Library by his daughter-in-law Grainne.
Dr. Noel Kissane, keeper of manuscripts at the Library, said the papers will help scholars and aficionados understand the work of Yeats (1865-1939), a playwright and one of Ireland’s most celebrated poets.
"This new accession hasn’t really been available before now," he said. "It consists mainly of material relating to the occult.
"Up to about 20 years ago scholars had disregarded the influence of spiritualism and the occult on his writings. Now it is more recognized and has been found to be far more central than they had previously understood."
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Kissane said there were about 3,000 pages of "automatic writing." This is where the spirit of a dead person is claimed to guide the pen of someone living.
He said it was mainly the writer’s wife, George Hyde-Lees, who was involved in the automatic writing. Then Yeats drew inspiration from it.
The automatic writing was used for one of his most famous works, "A Vision", published in 1925. Yeats claimed it was really the work of 16th century mythical philosopher called Giraldus.
Kissane said academics were able to relate automatic writing to the content of his plays and poems.