Yeats Summer School Itinerary
Dr Rob Doggett
Dr. Caroline Woidat
Summer 2011
General Overview
This course will provide an introduction to the writings of William Butler Yeats, an Irish poet and dramatists who is widely recognized as among the most important and influential artists of the twentieth century. The course will begin with an online component, in which students will closely analyze selections from his poetry, will explore the major themes and issues that emerge in his writings, and will become familiar with late nineteenth and early twentieth century Irish history, particularly the movements and events (the rise of Irish nationalism, the Easter Rising, the Irish Civil War, etc.) that deeply influenced Yeats’s work.
The course itself will take place in Sligo, Ireland, where students will attend the Yeats Summer School. In addition to discovering the Irish landscape that provided the inspiration for much of Yeats’s art, students will attend lectures delivered by some of the world’s foremost Yeats scholars, and will participate in two, one-week seminars (2 hours per day). The lectures will provide an overview of the Yeats canon, moving from his early writings to his later works, and will address those themes and issues that currently occupy a central position in Yeats scholarship. The seminars will cover a range of specific topics. Taught by experts from universities throughout the world and comprised of no more than twelve students each, the seminars will provide students with the opportunity to explore, in depth, a topic of their choosing.
Texts
The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats. Richard Finneran, ed. New York: Macmillan, 1993.
Holdeman, David. The Cambridge Introduction to W.B. Yeats. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006.
Credit Options
This course will appear as Engl 390 on student transcripts. It can, however, count for two different requirements within the English Department. English majors taking this course will use it to fulfill the
“ Major Authors ” requirement. Creative Writing majors taking this course as a “ Creative Writin g
Seminar ” will use it to fulfill one of the 300-level writing requirements. Please note, this class cannot be used to fulfill both requirements.
Major Authors
For students taking this class to fulfill the Major Authors requirement, the emphasis will be on literary analysis. That is, we will examine Yeats’s writings within a variety of contexts (biographical, historical, feminist, etc) in order to generate thoughtful interpretations of his poetry.
Creative Writing
[Caroline Needs to Fill in]

Grading
Completion of online components:
Participation
Grading Checklist
Response Journal
Final Essay / Project
Pass / Fail
20%
30%
30%
20%
Completion of online components
Our website contains a number of resources designed to help you prepare for the Yeats Summer School.
Please do your best to make use of as many of those resources as possible because, the more you know in advance about Yeats, the more you learn from (and the more you’ll enjoy) your time at the Yeats summer school. At a minimum, though, you need to complete four substantive discussion posts: one each on the poetry of, respectively, Yeats’s early phase, transitional phrase, middle phase, and late phase. Your posts should engage with Dr. Doggett’s lectures on each phase, and you should demonstrate at least some engagement with some of the other background information we have provided (such as The Cambridge
Introduction to Yeats ). Your posts can introduce new ideas, or you post in response to other student comments. For more details, see the reading list below. Note: these posts are a mandatory requirement of the course. Failure to complete them may result in failing the course.
Participation
Enthusiastic student participation is crucial to a successful study abroad program, so for this class, participation is especially important. Whether you are taking this as a Major Authors class or as a
Creative Writing seminar, you will be expected participate enthusiastically in all facets of the course; that means being on time for all events, working well with other students, attending the lectures, and contributing to the seminars.
Grading Checklist
There are four categories on the grading checklist. Listed here are the basic requirements for each category. Be sure to consult the checklist, listed separately, for more details. Note that failure to complete the minimum number of requirements in any of these categories will result in failure on this portion of the class.
Category 1: Seminars and Lectures.
All the items in this category MUST be completed. For your response journal, you can write a one-page critical or creative response to any seminar discussion or lecture. You must attend all five seminars during week one and all five seminars during week two (total of 10 seminars). You must attend a total of eight lectures during the two weeks we are in Sligo.
Category 2: Readings, Plays, and other Lectures / Performances . You must attend a minimum of seven of these. For your response journal, you can write a one-page review / response to any of these readings or performances.
Category 3: Interviews and Research Presentations . You must complete a minimum of one interview and one research presentation. For your response journal, you can write a one-page response to any of these items; you can also provide a one-page summary for research projects and a transcription of any interviews. Note that the research presentations require advance preparation.

Category 4: Other Fun Things to Do . You must complete a minimum of six of these items. Some of them require evidence, which you should include when you turn in the checklist. They are designed to help you get the most out of our course.
Response Journal
Prior to the start of the fall semester, you will need to turn in a response journal from the trip. The response journal should consist of ten entries, each typed and a minimum of one page. The topic of each entry is open to you, but, as a general rule, those taking the class for Major Author’s credit should focus mainly on literary analysis, while creative writers should provide creative entries. As mentioned on the category checklist, you might use your response journal to respond to the ideas you encounter in the lectures and seminars, or you might respond to the various readings and performances that you attend. We encourage you, though, to think of the response journal as an opportunity to share your own unique ideas.
For those interested in literary analysis, that might mean commenting on how visiting a particular site, featured in a Yeats poem, can give us new insights into that poem. For creative writers, you will have opportunities for topics from the moment we land.
Major Essay
You will need to complete a major writing assignment (approx. 10 pages) or, for creative writing people, a creative project. We will provide more details on these assignments in separate handouts that will be emailed to you early in the summer.
Reading List
Prior to your discussion post on Yeats’s early phase, please read the items listed below and view Dr.
Doggett’s lecture on Yeats’s early phase:
From the website, A Primer for Yeats’s Early Phase.
From Holdeman’s
The Cambridge Introduction to Yeats , pages 1-35.
From the Collected Poems : “The Song of the Happy Shepherd,” “The Sad Shepherd,” “The Stolen
Child,” “Down by the Salley Gardens,” “To the Rose upon the Rood of Time,” “Fergus and the Druid,”
“The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” “The Sorrow of Love,” “When You are Old,” “Who goes with Fergus,” “To
Ireland in the Coming Times,” “The Hosting of the Sidhe,” “The Song of Wandering Aengus,” “He remembers forgotten Beauty,” “The Cap and Bells,” “The Valley of the Black Pig,” “He wishes for the
Cloths of Heaven,” “The Fiddler of Dooney.”
Prior to your discussion post on Yeats’s transitional phase, please read the items listed below and view Dr. Doggett’s lecture on Yeats’s transitional phase:
From the website, A Primer for Yeats’s Transitional Phase.
From Holdeman’s
The Cambridge Introduction to Yeats , pages 36-57.
From the Collected Poems : “The Folly of Being Comforted,” “Never give all the Heart,” “Adam’s
Curse,” “Red Hanrahan’s Song about Ireland,” “No Second Troy,” “Upon a House shaken by the Land
Agitation,” “At Galway Races.”
Prior to your discussion post on Yeats’s middle phase, please read the items listed below and view
Dr. Doggett’s lecture on Yeats’s middle phase:
From the website, A Primer for Yeats’s Middle Phase.

From Holdeman’s
The Cambridge Introduction to Yeats , pages 58-77.
From the Collected Poems : “Introductory Rhymes,” “To a Wealthy Man,” “September 1913,” “Paudeen,”
“The Witch,” “The Peacock,” “A Coat,” “Closing Rhyme,” “The Wild Swans at Coole,” “In Memory of
Major Robert Gregory,” “An Irish Airman foresees his Death,” “The Fisherman,” “The Phases of the
Moon,” “Michael Robartes and the Dancer,” “Easter, 1916,” “Sixteen Dead Men,” “The Rose Tree,” “On a Political Prisoner,” “The Second Coming,” “A Prayer for my Daughter,” “To be carved on a Stone at
Thoor Ballylee.”
Prior to your discussion post on Yeats’s late phase, please read the items listed below and view Dr.
Doggett’s lecture on Yeats’s late phase:
From the website, A Primer for Yeats’s Late Phase.
From Holdeman’s The Cambridge Introduction to Yeats, pages 78-114.
From the Collected Poems: “Sailing to Byzantium,” “The Tower,” “Meditations in Time of Civil War,”
“Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen,” “Leda and the Swan,” “Among School Children,” “The Three
Monuments,” “All Souls’ Night,” “In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markievicz,” “A Dialogue of
Self and Soul,” “Byzantium,” “The Mother of God,” “Vacillation,” “Crazy Jane and the Bishop,” “I am of
Ireland,” “Parnell’s Funeral,” “The Gyres,” “Lapis Lazuli,” “Come Gather Round Me Parnellites,” “The
Municipal Gallery Re-visited,” “Are You Content,” “Under Ben Bulben,” “The Black Tower,”
“Cuchulain Comforted,” “The Statues,” “A Bronze Head,” “Man and Echo,” “The Circus Animals’
Desertion,” “Politics”
July 19 (Tuesday)
9:50pm Depart JFK on Aer Lingus, Flight 108 [ Meet at Terminal 4 by 6pm. Note: if you are flying to
JFK, please allow time for delays and for baggage transfer. You will have to claim your checked baggage for the domestic flight and take a train to Terminal 4].
July 20 (Wednesday)
9:50 am
12:00
2:00
2:45
5:00
Arrive in Dublin
Check in at Dublin City University
Assemble outside DCU for bus into Central Dublin
Historical Walking Tour of Dublin (Begins at Trinity College)
Traditional Irish Music in Pubs (optional)
July 21 (Thursday)
9:30
10:00
10:30
Assemble outside DCU for bus into Central Dublin
General Post Office
Tour of Trinity College and Book of Kells
National Library and Yeats Exhibit 12:00
1-2:00
3:00
5:00
11:55
Grafton Street Shopping and Lunch
Number 29 (a restored Georgian Age House)
DART to Howth: Cliff walk, dinner in Howth on your own
Last DART to Dublin Centre (Don’t Miss This Train)
NOTE: There may not be a bus back from Dublin Centre to DCU this late; you may have to take a cab.
July 22 (Friday)

9:30
10:30
12:00
1:00
2:30
4:00
6:30
8:30
9:00
12:00
Assemble outside DCU for bus into Central Dublin
Dublin Writer’s Museum / Hugh Lane Gallery
St. Michan’s Church (spooky mummies)
Lunch: The Brazen Head Pub (Oldest Pub in Ireland)
Chester Beatty Museum (or optional tour of Dublin Castle)
Guinness Brewery
DART to Dun Laoghaire
DART to Monkstown
Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann (Traditional Irish singing and dancing)
Cabs back to DCU
July 23 (Saturday)
10:30
11:00
1:30
Assemble outside DCU for bus into Central Dublin
National Archeological Museum
4:00
7:30
National Museum: Decorative Arts and History
Kilmainham Gaol
Abbey Theatre: Brian Friel’s Translations (Do not be late for this)
July 24 (Sunday)
10:00
11:00
12:30
3:30
Assemble outside DCU for private bus to Newgrange
Tour of Newgrange (Megalithic passage tomb)
4:30
6:30
July 25 (Monday)
Depart for Sligo
Arrive in Sligo / Registration
Tour of Innisfree, Glencar Falls, Ben Bulben, Drumcliffe Church, Yeats’s Grave
Opening Reception at Sligo City Hotel
Note for Yeats Summer School Events. All lectures take place in the Hawk’s Well Theatre. Unless otherwise noted, all 1:15 events take place in the Methodist Church (Wine Street). All seminars take place in the Yeats Memorial Building. Evening events are generally scheduled for 8:30pm, but listen for announcements on time changes. Locations for evening events vary.
9:30
11:15
1:15
Lecture: James Pethica, Williams College. Endings and Beginnings: Yeats, 1899-1901
Lecture: Anne Margaret Daniel, The New School University. Yeats the Novelist
Colin Smythe, “Lady Gregory: An artist through her sketchbooks 1888-1900: Galway,
Italy, London”.
4:30
6:30
Seminars
Assemble outside Glasshouse Hotel for Hike up Knocknarea (picnic)
July 26 (Tuesday)
9:30
11:15
1:15
Lecture: Laura O’Connor, University of California at Irvine. The Love Poet of
In the
Seven Woods and The Green Helmet
Lecture: George Bornstein, University of Michigan. Yeats’s Poetry of Youth and Age
Hunger: A dramatic recital for two voices. Performed by Tegolin Knowland and Sean
4:30
8:30
Coyne; devised and directed by Eamon Grennan.
Seminars
Enda Wyley, reading, Sligo Methodist Church.

July 27 (Wednesday)
9:30 Lecture: Margaret Kelleher, National University of Ireland at Maynooth. Yeats, the
Revival and Bilingual Culture
11:15
1:15
4:30
8:30
Lecture: Lauren Arrington, University of Liverpool. An Irish National Theatre: Educative and Representative?
Musical Settings of Yeats's Works, Composed and Performed for Piano by Michael Fish.
Seminars
Irish Dancing, Sligo City Hotel
July 28 (Thursday)
9:30 Lecture: Neil Corcoran, University of Liverpool. “Among School Children”: The Poem and its Critics
11:15
1:15
4:30
8:30
Lecture: Lucy McDiarmid, Montclair State University. Yeats, Modern Poetry, and The
Oxford Book of Modern Verse
Blue Raincoat production of The Cat and the Moon , Venue TBA
Seminars
Gerald Dawe, reading, Sligo Methodist Church
July 29 (Friday)
9:30 Lecture: Fintan O’Toole, Dublin. “The Other Oral Tradition”: Yeats as Orator
11:15 Lecture: Lionel Pilkington, National University of Ireland at Galway. Yeats and
Performativity in the 1920s
1:15
4:30
7:30
8:30
Kevin Barry, reading.
Seminars
Group Banquet (Location TBA)
Larry Kirwan, Concert, Hawk’s Well Theatre
July 30 (Saturday)
9:30
11:15
Bus Pickup at the Yeats Village for Galway Trip
Arrive in Galway
Free Time in Galway; tourist sites include:
St Nicholas Church and Farmer’s Market
Nora Barnacle House
Spanish Arch
5:30
The Claddagh District
Meet in Eyre Square: Depart for Doolin
8:00
Cliffs of Moher
Arrive in Doolin
Traditional Music at any of Doolin’s Pubs
July 31 (Sunday)
TBA Boat Trip to Inisheer (Aran Islands)
Traditional Music at any of Doolin’s Pubs
August 1 (Monday)

10:30
4:30
8:30
Assemble outside Doolin Youth Hostel for Return to Sligo
Afternoon Seminars
Peter McDonald, reading, Sligo Methodist Church
August 2 (Tuesday)
9:30
11:15
1:15
4:30
8:30
Lecture: Marjorie Howes, Boston College. Revising Yeats and the Revival
Lecture: Tim Webb, Bristol University. The Strange Identity of Dates: Constructing
Tower
Outing to Knocknarea (note: our own group will do a Knocknarea hike, but feel free to do it again; it’s worth it)
Seminars
Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, reading, Sligo Methodist Church
The
August 3 (Wednesday)
9:30 Lecture: Charles Armstrong, University of Bergen. Tragedy and Comedy in the Later
Yeats
11:15
1:15
Lecture: Brian Arkins, National University of Ireland at Galway. tour.
Seminars
The Winding Stair
Short talk on “The Yeats Family in Sligo” by Joyce Enright, who will then lead a walking
4:30
6:30
8:30
Assemble outside Glasshouse Hotel for trip to Rosses Point (picnic)
Michael Longley, reading, Sligo Methodist Church
August 4 (Thursday)
9:30
11:00
Lecture: Ann Saddlemyer, University of Toronto. Revelations from a Different Kind of
Writing: the Letters Between George and Willy Yeats
Assemble outside Hawk’s Well Theatre for Bus Trip to Strokestown Estate and
4:30
6:30
8:30
Roscommon Famine Museum
Seminars
Group Banquet (Location TBA)
Paul Muldoon, reading, Sligo Methodist Church
August 5 (Friday)
Dr Doggett’s Birthday (be nice to him)
9:30
11:15
1:15
4:30
8:30
Lecture: Meg Harper, University of Limerick. Yeats’s Occult Prose
Lecture: Michael Wood, Princeton University. Yeats and the Idea of Rule
Students' Poetry Reading
Seminars
Drama Workshop performance. Final party, Glasshouse Hotel, after the show
August 6 (Saturday)
7:30
11:00
Depart Yeats Village for Dublin (Please pack the night before; we need to leave on time)
Check in at Dublin City University
Free Time in Dublin

August 7 (Sunday)
8:00 Depart for Dublin Airport
Depart Dublin on Aer Lingus, Flight 105 10:45am
1:15pm Arrive at JFK