But Finneran's is not a definitive ordering; indeed, such in Yeats's case
is probably not possible. That said, A. N. Jeffares's and W. Gould's
_Yeats's Poems_ provides a different and arguably "better" take on the
order of the canon from Finneran-- they put the "Narrative and Dramatic"
poems back into their chronological sequence and/or their place in relevant
collections. So: _The Wanderings of Oisin_ appears as an opening salvo,
rather than tucked away at the back. Finneran's edition is, after all, an
attempt to update and correct the very "stock Macmillan" edition to which
you refer; Jeffares and Gould attempt to construct the deluxe edition Yeats
plainly desired in the 1930s, but which, for reasons of cost and the war,
was not produced. Besides, Finneran's notes are annoyingly comprehensive:
does the reader of Yeats really need to be told who Jesus Christ was? D.
Albright's notes to the Dent edition of Yeats are far more useful.
Yours textually,
Alex Davis
At 19:40 16/09/00 +0100, you wrote:
>Yesterday AmazonUK sent me Finneran's edition of Yeats' Collected
>and I have enjoyed myself reading it. All his life, among the dross,
>Yeats kept on churning out the remarkable poem. But the reason I
>ordered the SCribner book was to see the re-ordering of the Last
>Poems from 1938-39. And here I thought the finale quite superb and
>much superior to the stock Macmillan edition. Most interesting
>to read this afternoon.
>
>And wasnt THorpe awesome at the end of that 4*100. And Britain
>has got its Gold medal for the Games already.
>
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