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Notes
The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats (8 vols., Stratford-on-Avon, 1908), II. [viii].
Marion Witt, "A Competition for Eternity: Yeats's Revision of His Later Poems," PMLA, LXIV (1949), 40-58.
A correspondent has informed me that he has seen a sixth edition with an American imprint on the verso of the title page. I have seen only the London edition.
The Poetical Works of William B. Yeats (2 vols., New York, 1906). Vol. I, Lyrical Poems; vol. II, Dramatical Poems.
In the 1912 revision of Poems (1895). The 'will' remains in the 1913, 1919, 1920, 1922(2), 1923, and 1924 reprintings of Poems (1895); in Early Poems and Stories (1925); in the first two printings of The Augustan Books of English Poetry/W. B. Yeats (London, 1927, 1928); and in the first three printings of Selected Poems (London, 1929, 1930, 1932). But in A Selection from the Love Poetry, etc. (1913) and in Selected Poems (1921) it is 'with.'
Except for minor altering these lines had not been changed from their original form in United Ireland, 11 June 1892, until the major revision discussed here.
I refer, of course, to the last line of the three stanzas in the rewritten version: 'Ere Time transfigured me' at the end of the first stanza, and 'That has transfigured me' at the end of the second and third stanzas.
There were revisions for all the volumes in which the early poems were printed; those volumes I mention were the more extensively revised.
'The Moods.' Originally in The Bookman (August 1893). With minor changes, and no title, reprinted in The Celtic Twilight (London, December 1893; New York, 1894), in the revised The Celtic Twilight (London; New York: 1902; rptd. London and Stratford-upon-Avon, 1911), and in The Collected Works V (1908). But for The Wind Among the Reeds (1899) the title was restored, marked changes were made in several lines, and in this form it was printed in The Poetical Works I (1906), The Collected Works I (1908), and so on through the definitive edition. 'Into the Twilight.' Originally in The National Observer (29 July 1893) entitled 'The Celtic Twilight.' With a new title 'Into the Twilight' and minor changes reprinted in The Celtic Twilight (1893, 1894), in the revised The Celtic Twilight (1902, rptd 1911), in The Collected Works V (1908), and in Early Poems and Stories (1925). In the course of these printings a few additional changes were made. But for The Wind Among the Reeds (1899) marked changes were made . . . . [The remander of this note is the same as that for 'The Moods.'] 'The Happy Townland.' Originally in The Weekly Critical Review, June 1903; then with a new title 'The Rider from the North' in In the Seven Woods (1903); with the original title restored, in Poems, 1899-1905 (1906), and so on through the definitive edition. But for The Collected Works V (1908), Stories of Red Hanrahan (London and Stratford-upon-Avon; New York: 1913), Early Poems and Stories (1925), and Stories of Red Hanrahan (London, 1927) lines 1-12, much changed, are in the story 'The Twisting of the Rope,' and lines 1-32 and 41-60, with the same changes in lines 1-12 but the other lines unchanged, are in the story 'Hanrahan's Vision.'
From 'The Three Beggars.' The earlier version of the line is in the first three printings: Harper's Weekly (15 November 1931), Responsibilities (Cuala Press, 1914), and Responsibilities (London; New York: 1916); the later and final version begins with the fourth printing: Later Poems (1922).
From 'The Scholars.' The original version of lines 7-10 that lasted from their first printing in the Catholic Anthology (1914-1915) (London, 1915) through the 1926 revision of Later Poems (1922) are They'll cough in the ink to the world's end; Wear out the carpet with their shoes Earning respect; have no strange friend; If they have sinned nobody knows: The revised version, first in Selected Poems (1929), is All shuffle there; all cough in ink; All wear the carpet with their shoes; All think what other people think; All know the man their neighbour knows.
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