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Notes
[1]
The Wild Swans at Coole (1919) forms a convenient stopping point in this case because several of its poems are included in A Vision itself, while others reveal the influence of the system in their genesis. Even certain poems in Responsibilities clearly anticipate the future Vision study.
[2]
Two other poems which might possibly belong to the category of Vision changes should be briefly mentioned. Lines 21-22 of "To Ireland in the Coming Times" (Var., p. 137 or C.P., p. 49) were revised in 1925 from
Of the dim wisdoms old and deep,
That God gives unto man in sleep.
to
That God gives unto man in sleep.
Of things discovered in the deep
Where only body's laid asleep.
The revision seems to be a clarification based on his experience of
communicating with spirits through the mediumship of his sleeping wife.
Probably he also wished to remove any reference to God as inconsistent
with his later beliefs. The second possibility is "The Man who Dreamed of
Fairyland" (Var., p. 126 or C.P., p. 43). In
1929
ll. 21-23 were changed from
Where only body's laid asleep.
And how beneath those three times blessed skies
A Danaan fruitage makes a shower of moons,
And as it falls awakens leafy tunes;
to
A Danaan fruitage makes a shower of moons,
And as it falls awakens leafy tunes;
Under the golden or the silver skies;
That if a dancer stayed his hungry foot
It seemed the sun and moon were in the fruit:
In A Vision the dancer is mentioned in conjunction with the
13th sphere and the concept of freedom. The dancer appears in a few
Vision poems (e.g., "Michael Robartes and the Dancer");
thus
this revision could be considered a Vision
image.
"The Two Trees," however, is the only poem which was unquestionably
influenced by A Vision in its revision.
That if a dancer stayed his hungry foot
It seemed the sun and moon were in the fruit:
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