Colette, you have just returned from Sligo in the West of Ireland where you were one of the four specially invited Speakers participating in the poet W. B Yeats’s 150th birthday celebrations. That must have been a great honor?
Yes, it was amazing and a very great honor. Ireland loves her poets and writers in the same way that the US loves her movie and sports stars, and despite being a small country with a population not much larger than Orange County in California, yet she has produced many literary giants including James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, C.S. Lewis, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw, John Millington Synge, Seamus Heaney and even Bram Stoker who wrote Dracula. However, William Butler Yeats tops the list. Literary critics throughout the world are now placing him on a par with Shakespeare, and many consider him the greatest poet of the 20th century writing in the English language. His fame is still growing and his 150th birthday is being celebrated in over 40 countries including here in the U.S., Japan, Korea, China and many countries in Europe. Many celebrations and exhibitions will continue throughout the rest of the year.
Why Sligo? Wasn’t he born in Dublin?
Yes, but he considered Sligo to be his spiritual home. He spent a large part of his childhood there and it is where he is now buried. At his own request, he was laid to rest in the shadows of Benbulben, the beautiful (flat top) mountain that overlooks Sligo town.
The excitement was felt nationwide with widespread media coverage. Universities and libraries had commemorative exhibitions of his work, Ireland’s National Television station transmitted a magnificent hour-long documentary showing archive content I had never seen before, and many of his twenty-seven plays were performed in theaters, schools, and cultural centers all over the country. Some plays were even performed out in nature: on Benbulben mountain and on beaches and were free for the public to attend.
And what a grand celebration it was!! Large murals of Yeats himself and his poems were to be seen throughout the town of Sligo. Shop windows, restaurants, coffee shops, pubs, and even the Central Bus Station displayed his life-size image. Pubs and coffee shops in the town had a few minutes of silence every hour so one of his poems could be read out loud. There were also poetry walks through places made famous through his poems, like the “Hazel Wood.” There was even an enormous six-foot-tall birthday cake shared with everyone who passed in the street. School children also participated in their own events. There was something for everyone – It was wonderful to be there on that very special day.
The official events included a Grand Nobel Dinner on the eve of his birthday. Yeats received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1929 and there were invited guests from many countries. The Irish Ambassador to Britain and Britain’s Ambassador to Ireland sat side by side – a nice sign that times have changed.
The following morning, his birthday, the invited guests were taken on an early morning boat ride to the Lake Isle of Innisfree with a full Irish-breakfast service on-board. It was magnificent to be out on the water in that beautiful unspoiled landscape with not even a house or telegraph pole in sight. Several guests recited Yeats’s poems on the boat as we quietly sailed to and from the little island that he has made so famous throughout the world.
You mentioned you were an “invited Speaker” and your topic was “Yeats and Women” Tell me more.
I was one of four who was invited to give an hour-long talk and that was my topic of choice. Yeats was a love poet and he fell in love easily. Love poets need a Beloved and several women played the vital role of Muse in his life as a poet. Most notable was the beautiful Maud Gonne. Her continual rejection of his marriage proposals over twenty-eight years heightened his imagination for love poetry. She was his Rose, his Helen of Troy, his Ladaean Body, his Cathleen Ni Houlihan, his Pallas Athena, and his Deirdre.
The exploration of the supernatural world was as important to Yeats as his poetry. His poems and plays were influenced by Celtic mythology along with Asian thought.
In 1917, he married the much younger Georgie Hyde Lee. She became his personal psychic medium and through trance and automatic writing she brought forth symbols and metaphors that formed the basis for his renowned work “A Vision.” Throughout history, women have served great men but, in my view, it is not too late today for her to be given proper accreditation.
Edith Shackleton Heald was the light of Yeats’s final years. He happily spent weeks at a time at her home in England where he wrote some of his great works.
My presentation was greatly enhanced by my studies at Pacifica. My work with Depth Psychology, Mythological Studies; Myth and Symbol in Art, Literature and Religion greatly contributed to my perspective on Yeats and the positive feedback I got from all who attended.
Who were your audience?
That was the most challenging issue for me! They ranged from people who knew very little about Yeats to scholars who know a lot and mostly want new insights. There were also international visitors. I tried to please all and, from reports and feedback, I think I succeeded. The National Chairperson for Arts and Culture, Senator Susan O’Keeffe, commented by Twitter “Fascinating talk” and the President of The Yeats Society expressed interest in inviting me back to Sligo for their prestigious International Yeats Summer School, which is held in Sligo each summer, this being its 56th year.
Who were the other invited Speakers and what were their topics?
Daniel Mulhall, the Irish Ambassador to Britain gave a talk on Ireland in the time of Yeats as he has also published a book on the topic. Dr. Keith Hopper, a Sligo native who teaches at Oxford University talked about the poem “The Lake Isle of Innesfree” showing how it evolved and changed through Yeats’s re-writings and corrections. Prof. Margaret Mills Harper, who is considered the world’s authority on Yeats’s philosophic work, “A Vision,” spoke on that theme.
The national three-day event closed with a major Poet Laureate’s Event of poetry, music and singing. The Laureates of Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, together with the Chair of Poetry from Trinity College were present. Amazingly, all these six office holders are women, which would have thrilled Yeats because he loved independent, talented women and they played an important role in his life and work.
Each Laureate read out a favorite Yeats poem, followed by a few of their own. There was also classical harp music played by two leading Irish concert harpists, and Yeats’s granddaughter, Caitriona Yeats, read one of her grandfather’s poems. Finally, His Excellency the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, who is himself a poet, recited Auden’s great “Tribute to W.B. Yeats” which was written following Yeats’ death and which deeply moved the large audience present.
What is next in line for you? What plans do you have now?
Next year, 2016, will see the centenary (100 years) commemoration of the Easter Rising in Dublin, which resulted in the greater part of Ireland breaking free from the British Empire. There will be major celebrations and there are plans already in motion to commemorate it in over 100 countries around the globe. I am already preparing a series of talks for that occasion and, again, I will approach this subject from a Mythological and Depth Psychological perspective.
I also really love giving presentations on Yeats and his Muses. However, it’s “Irish poetry and the Mythic Imagination,” that I have the greatest affection for and will give this presentation throughout my world travels. My greatest satisfaction is when I can share my passion for Celtic wisdom, the Irish imagination, and the fascinating cultural heritage of my native land.
