Description: Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland combines two books of Irish folklore collected and edited by William Butler Yeats -- Fairy and Folk Tales
of the Irish Peasantry, first published in 1888, and Irish Fairy Tales, published in 1892. In this delightful gathering of legend and song, the familiar characters of Irish myth come to life: the mercurial trooping fairies, as ready to make mischief as to do good; the solitary and industrious Lepracaun and his dissipated cousin, the Cluricaun; the fearsome Pooka, who lives among ruins and has "grown monstrous with much solitude"; and the Banshee, whose eerie wailing warns of death. More than an ambitious and successful effort to preserve the rich heritage of his native land, this volume confirms Yeats's conviction that imagination is the source of both life and art. As Benedict Kiely observes in his foreword, Yeats was seeking "not for the meaning of any mystery but for what he had already determined to find...a world of the imagination...a world that fed on dreaming and not on the painted toy of grey truth."

Description: Over 100 of Ireland's best-loved poems recorded by over 100 of Ireland's best-loved figures. Over the centuries, Ireland has produced an astonishing wealth of writers, from Oscar Wilde and Patrick Kavanagh to W B Yeats and Seamus Heaney. An island steeped in literary tradition and inspired by its dramatic landscape, history and people, its rich and colourful heritage is now celebrated in this unique compilation. For the first time ever, over 100 of Ireland's best loved poems have been recorded by some of the most moving, resonant, subtle and memorable voices ever to have come out of Ireland and are featured in this beautiful book and CD collection. From Bono to Pierce Brosnan, Maeve Binchy to Richard Harris and Bertie Ahern to Bob Geldof, figures from every walk of Irish public life give their own unique slant on poems ranging from classics such as Padraic Colum's She Moved Through The Fair and Patrick Kavanagh's A Christmas Childhood to contemporary favourites like Seamus Heaney's The Rain Stick and Brendan Kennelly's God's Laughter. As well as forming a living anthology of the best of Irish writing, the collection is also a reminder that words -- both oral and written -- make a difference, with all royalties going to Focus Ireland, one of the leading charities in Ireland working with and for people who are homeless.

Description: Listen to the sound of English as it was meant to be heard. The only authorized audio companion to the widely-respected Norton Anthology of Poetry, Third Edition, this audio collection includes the greatest poems of the English Language, ranging from the writings of Shakespeare, Milton, Blake, and Wordsworth, to the best-loved verse of Whitman, Dickinson, the Brownings, and Yeats39 poets in all. The readings by brilliant classic actors Alexander Scourby, Nancy Wickwire, and Bramwell Fletcher are presented in the order they appear in Norton and are selected for their ability to delight. It is simply a collection of the best.