Joseph Skipsey, the 'peasant poet', and an unpublished letter from W. B. Yeats

Tait, Gordon

Abstract

This article examines an unpublished letter from Yeats to the ‘pitman-poet’ Joseph Skipsey, which gives new insight into the early career of Yeats and a deeper understanding of the possibilities and capabilities of the Victorian working-classes. It argues that, in Skipsey, Yeats found an English equivalent to the Irish peasant poet, a figure whose life and poetry was central to Yeats’s vision of Ireland and his nation’s literary revival. The article contends that, following the discovery of a letter from Yeats, Skipsey’s poetry and influence should be considered outside the bounds of the Pre-Raphaelite clique within which he is usually located.

Citation

Tait, G. (2016). Joseph Skipsey, the 'peasant poet', and an unpublished letter from W. B. Yeats. Literature and History, 25(2), 134-149. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306197316669264

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 25, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Nov 7, 2016
• Publication Date: 2016-11
• Deposit Date: Jun 29, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 7, 2016
• Journal: Literature and history
• Print ISSN: 0306-1973
• Electronic ISSN: 2050-4594
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 134-149
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0306197316669264
• Keywords: Literature and Literary Theory; History
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/440536
• Publisher URL: http://lah.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/10/18/0306197316669264.abstract
• Additional Information: This is the author's accepted version of an article accepted for publication in Literature and History.