Born and educated in Dublin; Ireland; William Butler Yeats discovered early in his literary career a fascination with Irish folklore and the occult. He was a complex man; who struggled between beliefs in the strange and supernatural; and scorn for modern science. He was intrigued by the idea of mysticism; yet had little regard for Christianity. His close friend; Ezra Pound; exposed Yeats to the symbolic theatre genre of Japanese Noh drama; prompting him to write "At the Hawks Well" in 1916. The play; based on the Cuchulain legends of Irish mythology; uses Japanese-style masks and very simple sets to achieve an abstract; stylized form. The story is set by a dried up well on a barren mountainside; guarded constantly by a hawk-woman; and watched diligently by an old man who has waited fifty years to drink from its miraculous waters and the young Cuchulain who fails to heed the old mans warnings.
#3440732 in eBooks 2010-08-18 2010-08-18File Name: B005WUDKGE
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