1881年10月，诗人在都柏林的伊雷斯摩斯·史密斯中学（Erasmus Smith）继续他的学业。他父亲的画室就在这所学校附近，于是诗人经常在那里消磨时光，并结识了很多都柏林城的艺术家和作家。在这段时间里，叶芝大量阅读莎士比亚等英国作
家的作品，并和那些比他年长许多的文学家、艺术家们讨论。他于1883年12月从这所中学毕业，其后他便开始了诗歌地创作。1885年，叶芝在《都柏林大
学评论》上发表了他的第一部诗作，以及一篇题为《赛缪尔·费格森爵士的诗》的散文。从1884年到1886年，他就读于位于基尔岱尔大街的大都会艺术学校
（Metropolitan School of Art），也就是如今爱尔兰国家美术与设计学院的前身。
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
——— byWilliam Butler Yeats
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there,
for peace
comes dropping slow
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the
cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day,
I hear the lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
"Cast a cold eye,on life,on death,horseman,pass by!"
冷眼一瞥/生与死/骑士/且前行！
望着墓碑，读着碑上的这句诗，我想起了英国诗人奥登悼念叶芝的诗句：
“疯狂的爱尔兰将你刺伤成诗”。
是不是诗人评价诗人更增添了诗意！
还是叶芝那首著名的爱情诗《When you are old
》，
《When you are old
》
------ byWilliam Butler Yeats
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
人们都会在诗人的几段爱情生活里寻找他们写诗激情的源泉，然后可以肆意八卦，可诗人叶芝的爱情是一见钟情，而且是终始如一，固执不渝地一辈子只爱着一位女人，谁忍心再八卦呢？他的这首著名的爱情诗《When you are old
》当你年老时，已是被认为世界最著名的四首爱情诗之一。[ 其他三首：《世界上最远的距离》 泰戈尔 ，《致橡树》 舒婷，《见与不见》 仓央嘉措活佛]
茅德·冈一直对叶芝若即若离，1891年7月，叶芝误解了她在给自己的一封信的信息，以为她对自己做了爱情的暗示，立即兴冲冲的跑去第一次向茅德·冈求婚。她拒绝了，说她不能和他结婚，但希望和叶芝保持友谊。此后茅德·冈始终拒绝了叶芝的追求。即使在婚事完全失意时，『 he visited Gonne in Ireland and proposed marriage, but was rejected. He
later admitted that from that point "the troubling of my life began".[39]
Yeats proposed to Gonne three more times: in 1899, 1900 and 1901. She
refused each proposal, and in 1903, to his horror, married the Irish
nationalist Major John MacBride.[40]她在1903年嫁给了爱尔兰军官麦克布莱德少校，e 这场婚姻后来颇有波折，即使在婚事完全失意时， 这段wiki，验证了叶芝第一眼见到她时，意识到 “我一生的烦恼开始了”，。
『in 1904, she and MacBride agreed to end the marriage, although they
were unable to agree on the child's welfare. Despite the use of
intermediaries, a divorce case ensued in Paris in 1905. Maud made a
series of allegations against her husband with Yeats as her main
'second' though he did not attend court or travel to France. A divorce
was not granted as the only accusation that held up in court was that
MacBride had been drunk once during the marriage. A separation was
granted with Maud having custody of the baby with John having visiting
rights.[42]
Yeats' friendship with Gonne persisted, and, in Paris, in 1908, they
finally consummated their relationship. "The long years of fidelity
rewarded at last" was how another of his lovers described the event.
Yeats was less sentimental and later remarked that "the tragedy of
sexual intercourse is the perpetual virginity of the soul."[39]
The relationship did not develop into a new phase after their night
together, and soon afterwards Gonne wrote to the poet indicating that
despite the physical consummation, they could not continue as they had
been: "I have prayed so hard to have all earthly desire taken from my
love for you and dearest, loving you as I do, I have prayed and I am
praying still that the bodily desire for mmay be taken from you too."[43]
By January 1909, Gonne was sending Yeats letters praising the advantage
given to artists who abstain from sex. Nearly twenty years later, Yeats
recalled the night with Gonne in his poem "A Man Young and Old":
My arms are like the twisted thorn
And yet there beauty lay;
The first of all the tribe lay there
And did such pleasure take;
She who had brought great Hector down
And put all Troy to wreck.
这样的爱情，让诗人感情上痛苦了一生。 还是安慰一下叶芝吧，正是如此的爱情，激活了诗人心灵深处的激情，使他成为真正的诗人，让这段爱情得到了永生。
《When you are old
》，有了各种文字，无数的译本，是感动了一个多世纪的爱情绝唱。可是在它背后，却隐藏着多么缠绵沮丧的爱情悲剧。我站在叶芝的墓前，默默地问他，是不是这段爱情深深地把你刺伤，才写出了这样刻骨铭心，冷峻的诗句.向前来拜访你的人哀鸣这其中的深深之痛。。
---The poem was written in 1919 in the aftermath of the First World War.[3]
While the various manuscript revisions of the poem refer to the
Renaissance, French Revolutions, the Irish rebellion, and those of
Germany and of Russia, Richard Ellman and Harold Bloom suggest the text refers to the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Bloom argues that Yeats takes the side of the counter-revolutionaries
and the poem suggests that reaction to the revolution would come too
late.[4] Early drafts also included such lines as: "And there's no Burke to cry aloud no Pitt," and "The good are wavering, while the worst prevail."[5]
"
The Second Coming
by William Butler Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
叶芝于1923年获得诺贝尔文学奖，获奖的理由是“用鼓舞人心的诗篇，以高度的艺术形式表达了整个民族的精神风貌（inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form that gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation）”。艾略特曾誉之为“二十世纪最伟大的英语诗人”。
Blarney Castle (Irish: Caisleán na Blarnan) is a medieval
stronghold in Blarney,
near Cork,
Ireland, and the River Martin. Though earlier
fortifications were built on the same spot, the current keep was built by the MacCarthy of Muskerry dynasty, a cadet branch
of the Kings of Desmond, and dates from 1446.[4]
The noted Blarney Stone is found among the machicolations
of the castle.
At the top of the castle lies the Stone of Eloquence, better known as the Blarney
Stone. Tourists
visiting Blarney Castle may hang upside-down over a sheer drop to kiss the
stone, which is said to give the gift of eloquence.
There are many legends as to the origin of the stone, but some say that it was
the Lia
Fáil—a magical stone upon which Irish kings were crowned.
Blarney
Stone as kiss stone吸引了来之世界各地的游客，Blarney Castle的地基与岩石浑然一体，好像是从那里生出来似的。古堡的历史最初可以追溯到在1200年前，后来经历战争，几次被出售，转手，其中18世纪初由圣约翰爵士Jefferyes，当时的香港总督购买。Jefferyes家庭成员在附近建立一个豪宅。后来房子被火烧毁，现在那宏大的豪宅被称为布拉尼楼，她重建在1874年。
It’s the century’s last sequential date. For some, it represents luck.
For others, it’s a day of romance. For most of us, it’s just another
Wednesday. Regardless of your beliefs, 12/12/12 comes along with some
rather amusing facts and superstitions.
According to Chinese numerology, the number one is a yang number which
is ruled by the sun and represents independence and individualism. Two
is a yin number which is ruled by the moon and represents symmetry and
balance. When placed together, the number 12 brings harmony to the yin
and yang, balancing the feminine energy of the moon with the masculine
energy of the sun. So, what we can gather is that 12/12/12 equals lots
of harmony.
CNN cited
numerology experts as saying 12 — considered a "three" number because
the digits add up to three — corresponds with the largest planet,
Jupiter (to the sun's No. 1 and the moon's No. 2), which means wealth.
"If you're in a business of trading money, or the buying and selling
of anything, tomorrow is a good day to make investments," Jumaani said
Tuesday. "If you want to buy something — property, if you want to buy
gold — it'd be a good day."
(In case you're wondering, the No. 1 planet is the sun, and the No. 2 planet is the moon.)
Palindrome lovers will rejoice in the fact that at 1:21:02 am, they can
celebrate the second which marks a date-time combination which will be
read the same both backwards and forwards. 2012-12-12 1:21:02 =
201212-1-212102.
. From culinary cuisine to calendars, 12 has been a significant number
since its creation. Just think about it – 12 months in the year, 12
hours of night and day, 12 astrological signs, 12 Olympic gods and
goddesses, 12 days of Christmas, and Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Oh,
and let’s not forget about eggs – which are cheaper by the dozen! With
so much significance on its side, 12/12/12 was seemingly destined to be a
meaningful day.
