The Adoration of the Magi

Name: The Adoration of the Magi
Author: W.B. Yeats

The Adoration of the Magi is a collection of poems by W.B. Yeats, published in 1933. The collection is divided into two parts, the first of which is a series of poems about the Magi, the wise men who visited the infant Jesus. The poems explore the Magi’s journey, their adoration of the Christ child, and their eventual return home. The second part of the collection is a series of poems about the Irish struggle for independence. These poems explore the themes of freedom, patriotism, and the struggle for a better future. The collection is a powerful exploration of faith, hope, and the power of the human spirit.

By W.B. Yeats · First published 1897 · Genre: Poetry, Religious Literature, Romanticism · 2,766 words

First lines

I was sitting reading late into the night a little after my last meeting with Aherne, when I heard a light knocking on my front door. I found upon the doorstep three very old men with stout sticks in their hands, who said they had been told I should be up and about, and that they were to tell me important things. I brought them into my study, and when the peacock curtains had closed behind us, I set their chairs for them close to the fire, for I saw that the frost was on their great-coats of frieze and upon the long beards that flowed almost to their waists. They took off their great-coats, and leaned over the fire warming their hands, and I saw that their clothes had much of the country of our time, but a little also, as it seemed to me, of the town life of a more courtly time. When they had warmed themselves -- and they warmed themselves, I thought, less because of the cold of the night than because of a pleasure in warmth for the sake of warmth -- they turned towards me, so that the light of the lamp fell full upon their weather-beaten faces, and told the story I am about to tell. Now one talked and now another, and they often interrupted one another, with a desire like that of countrymen, when they tell a story, to leave no detail untold. When they had finished they made me take notes of whatever conversation they had quoted, so that I might have the exact words, and got up to go. When I asked them where they were going, and what they were doing, and by what names I should call them, they would tell me nothing, except that they had been commanded to travel over Ireland continually, and upon foot and at night, that they might live close to the stones and the trees and at the hours when the immortals are awake.

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The Adoration of the Magi is listed on Textopian as a poem by W.B. Yeats, dated 1897 CE.

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Work type: Poem
Author: W.B. Yeats
Date: 1897 CE
Language: English
Genres: Poetry, Religious Literature, Romanticism, Modernism
Length: 2,766 words
Structure: 1 section, 20 paragraphs
Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)

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Genres

Poetry — The Adoration of the Magi is a poem written by W.B. Yeats, making it a work of poetry.
Religious Literature — The Adoration of the Magi is a poem about the biblical story of the Three Wise Men, making it a work of religious literature.
Romanticism — The Adoration of the Magi is a poem that uses romantic language and imagery, making it a work of romanticism.
Modernism — The Adoration of the Magi was written by W.B. Yeats, a modernist poet, making it a work of modernism.