Lesson I: The Influence of the Landscape of Ireland on Shaping the Poetic Voice of William Butler Yeats

Assign students to gather information through web, print media, and where appropriate, interviews with people who have lived, visited, or have ancestral roots in Ireland, for the purpose of developing a profile of the landscape of Ireland and the connotative implications of what it means to be "Irish".

Lead students, as a class, in examining a map of Ireland, pointing out special places of interest such as the Giant Causeway; Belfast, where the Titanic was built; the Folkway Museum; the dividing line that marks Northern Ireland from the Republic of the South; Trinity College in Dublin where the Book of Kells resides, etc.

Share paintings of scenes of Ireland and prints of Celtic art.

Encourage students who have Irish roots to share anecdotes, sing songs, perform dances related to their heritage.

Show the video Riverdance; assign students interested in dance and music to research and present on the influence and manifestation of Irish influence on the dance and music of vaudeville, Broadway musicals, and Hollywood.

Assign a group of students to research and report back on the growth of the Irish Nationalist Movement and the present political situation; assign another group to research other "sea-change"events in the history of Ireland, for instance, the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the cottage linen and factory linen industry, the devastation of the Plague, the potato famine, emigration patterns.

Another group could be assigned to research Celtic origins, the impact of Viking, Anglo-Saxon, Norman, and Celtic invasions on Europe and, especially, Ireland, the early infusion of the Scots into Ireland, etc. Give particular attention to conjecturing the impact on the development of language, art expression, and music.

Discuss the term "Gaelic", particularly as it relates to the Goidelic speech of the Celts in Ireland.

Following the sharing of the above background material, consider the terms "syncretic" and "syncretism". After exploring the meaning of the terms, examine the implication of how the basic concept of the terms relate to the history of Ireland and to the present Irish culture.

Initiate a discussion in which students identify narrative patterns, coming through Celtic and Irish myths and legends, that they have encountered in other sources; for instance, fairy tales, King Arthur legends; modern movies and cartoons.

As a follow-up assignment, have students consider the words "enchant", "enchanted", "enchantment". Construct a jot list of specific things that come to mind when they hear those words. (For instance, faeries, mist, banshees; romantic heroes and heroines).

Share the definitions Yeats gives of "faeries", "banshees", and "leprechauns" in his Fairy and Folktales of Ireland collection.

Share the "enchanted" lists and discuss other possibilities that emerge connotatively from the words. Consider, again, the geography of Ireland. What aspects of the landscape would evoke the idea of "enchanted"? Does the fact that Ireland is an island contribute to the aura of "enchantment?

Then have students develop a manuscript (poem, vignette of drama or prose) about one of the geographical places in Ireland, projecting the idea of "enchanted" through creating their own myth or developing a variation of an Irish myth they have encountered in their research.

Have students share their manuscripts in small groups; have each group identify any manuscript they think is compelling enough to share in the large group and be prepared to give specific evidence from the text of the writing as to why they find it "compelling".

Sum up, inductively, a working definition of the judgment word "compelling" by having students, in large group discussion, construct a list of specific elements they have identified as constituting a "compelling" manuscript.

Explore, in class discussion, the terms "lyrical", "lyricist", and "lyricism". Also discuss the terms "assonance" and "dissonance". Have students draw examples from music they are familiar with to help clarify the difference in these tone qualities. Discuss what musical instruments would project the tones. How would a dancer project the tones in dance? How would a fashion designer express the tone qualities in his/her design?

Have students craft vignettes of prose or poems that express the above tone qualities

Assign students to develop a written explication of a poem, not covered in class, from Yeats' early period.

Play a recording of some of the Irish ballads that resonate themes found in Yeats' poetry, for instance, the song, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree"; also, encourage students to research specific ways Appalachian folk tunes and Bluegrass music mirror some of the traditional Irish folk tunes. (Folkway Museum in Northern Ireland has a list of resources)