Catherine E. Paul & Margaret Mills, editors
The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume XIII,
A Vision; The Original 1925 Version.
Scribner, 384 pages, $60

Sometime in 1911—the exact date is not known—W. B. Yeats, visiting his friend Olivia Shakespear in London, was introduced to a young Englishwoman named Bertha Georgiana Hyde-Lees. She was a few months over eighteen, he was nearly forty-six. A friendship soon developed, enthusiastic on her part, warier on his. They shared many occult interests, including astrology, the Tarot, magic, spiritualism, and esoteric philosophy. She was also of a good family. Over the months, they attended séances together. The relation proceeded, but not in haste. Yeats and Mrs. Shakespear had recently renewed their old intimacy, and he was also entangled in an affair with Mabel Dickinson. On July 24, 1914 Georgie—as Yeats liked to call her, though most of her ...

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