8 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 26, 1995

'New' Yeats poems are instant classics

By Elizabeth Lucas
Daily Arts Writer
"Having offered these poems to the
world," University of Michigan profes-
sor George Bornstein commented
wryly, "I should note that Yeats never
took steps to have them published."
Nonetheless, Bornstein has collected
38 newly discovered poems in "Under
the Moon: The Unpublished Early Po-
etry," by William Butler Yeats
(Scribner, $22). On September 23rd, a
standing-room-only crowd gathered in
Shaman Drum bookstore for the po-
ems' firstpublicreading. Bornstein and
local poets Lawrence Goldstein, Rich-
ard Tillinghast, Linda Gregerson and
Keith Taylor read excerpts from the
book.
The poems were written between
1880-1895, from Yeats' late teens to
the beginning of his career as a pub-
lished poet. They are notable for their
use of traditional verse forms, such as
sonnets and dialogue, and their regular
rhyme and meter. Bornstein explained
that they use themes which appear
throughout Yeats' work: Irish national-

Yeats Poetry
Reading
Shaman Drum
September 23, 1995.
ism, nature, and of course, love. Sev-
eral of the poems were dedicated to
Maud Gonne, the nationalist and orator
who was the object of Yeats' unre-
quited love and the subject of many of
his poems.
Hearing several drafts of the same
poem provided tremendous insight into
the development of Yeats' thoughts on
a subject. One such work, "Pan," had 18
drafts. As for the overall quality of the
poems, Bornstein said frankly, "The
first ones are bad, but the ones that were
written in the 1890s are comparable to
his published work."
Bornstein, an English professor and
Yeats scholar, explained how he dis-
covered the poems. "It was an acciden-
tal project. I wasn't looking for these

poems, but I kept finding them,"
Bornstein said. "Then I realized, I have
enough to publish a book. It was really
thrilling."
Many of the poems came from ar-
chives in the National Library of Ire-
land. Others were found in Yeats' li
brary which included unpublished
manuscripts that are now the property,
ofhis children, Anne and Michael. Some
were written on the fly leaves of Yeats'
books and one was actually found in a
shoebox in son Michael's basement.
Bornstein's discovery will be greatly
appreciated, judging from the reaction
at the Shaman Drum reading. "I set out
chairs for 50 people, and there must
have been over a hundred. People were
standing and sitting on the floor," said
Keith Taylor, the owner of Shaman
Drum.
As Goldstein said, "Usually we don't
find more poems by our favorite poets
once deceased." Readers of Yeats will
be grateful that, for once, this was not
the case.

RECORDS
Continued from page 5

Red Aunts
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Drugstore
Drugstore
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Here's a British pop band that
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Instead, Drugstore creates a bi-
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timacy (and isolation) on their self-
titled debut. Songs have titles like

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The relatively upbeat single "Soli-
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Son Yolt
Trace
Warner Bros.
"When in doubt, move on," sings
Jay Farrar on "Trace," the debut al-
bum from his new band Son Volt. The
singer did exactly that last winter when
he left Uncle Tupelo, the mighty
Belleville, l.-based band that rede-
fined country-rock over the course of

their four spectacular records.
Tupelo fans knew Farrar must have
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While his Tupelo singing and
songwriting partner Jeff Tweedy cre-
ated breezy, twangy, potent pop-rock
with the rest of the old group in Wilco
(their great debut "A.M." was released
on Reprise this spring), Farrar chose
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ing record.
Tracing the same well-worn musi-
cal map as Tupelo did, Farrar creates
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pelo drummer Mike Heidorn and
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Farrar's voice, which somehow
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Though Farrar lost Tweedy's free
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It might not settle the yearlong de-

bate over which songwriter would best
survive the Tupelo breakup. Both
Tweedy and Farrar have presented
fine new bands with fine new albums.
While the two chose to follow differ-
ent paths, neither one strayed too far
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With "Trace," Farrar and Son Volt
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It's a stunning debut - richly tex-
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phone: 663.5800
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