The Praise of Old Wives' Tales by W.B. Yeats
The work contrasts art that arises naturally from the simplicity of traditional storytelling with art that becomes impersonal through excessive construction and detail. It asserts that characters from folk narratives possess an enduring vitality because they encapsulate universal human experiences without being burdened by the intricate forces of fate, society, and overly complex plots. The narrative argues that when literature attempts to mirror modern realities and societal complexities, characters lose their immediacy and become harder to recall, as their essence is diffused among abstract, external forces. In contrast, the innate charm of old, timeworn tales remains vivid in memory, much like a beloved child's delight in something small yet wondrous. The text defends the value of narratives that, despite their simplicity, echo deep human truths, suggesting that their strength lies in their ability to engage the common heart. By emphasizing that the most memorable characters are those that transcend the confines of produced art to live on in individual recollection, the work champions a return to the instinctive and personal power of storytelling as embodied in folklore.
By W.B. Yeats · First published 1937 · Genre: Essay, Literary Criticism, Philosophy · 462 words
First lines
An art may become impersonal because it has too much circumstance or too / little, because the world is too little or too much with it, because it / is too near the ground or too far up among the branches. I met an old / man out fishing a year ago who said to me 'Don Quixote and Odysseus are / always near to me; ' that is true for me also, for even Hamlet and Lear / and OEdipus are more cloudy. No playwright ever has made or ever will / make a character that will follow us out of the theatre as Don Quixote / follows us out of the book, for no playwright can be wholly episodical, / and when one constructs, bringing one's characters into complicated / relations with one another, something impersonal comes into the story. / Society, fate, 'tendency,' something not quite human begins to arrange / the characters and to excite into action only so much of their humanity / as they find it necessary to show to one another. The common heart will / always love better the tales that have something of an old wives' tale / and that look upon their hero from every side as if he alone were / wonderful, as a child does with a new penny. In plays of a comedy too / extravagant to photograph life, or written in verse, the construction is / of a necessity woven out of naked motives and passions, but when an / atmosphere of modern reality has to be built up as well, and the / tendency, or fate, or society has to be shown as it is about ourselves / the characters grow fainter and we have to read the book many times or / see the play many times before we can remember them. Even then they are / only possible in a certain drawing-room and among such and such people, / and we must carry all that lumber in our heads. I thought Tolstoi's 'War / and Peace' the greatest story I had ever read, and yet it has gone from / me; even Lancelot, ever a shadow, is more visible in my memory than all / its substance.
What this Textopian page supports
The Praise of Old Wives' Tales is listed on Textopian as a short story by W.B. Yeats, dated 1937 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: W.B. Yeats
- Date: 1937 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Essay, Literary Criticism, Philosophy, Folklore, Cultural Studies
- Length: 462 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
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Genres
- Essay — A reflective meditation on art, narrative, and literature presented in a personal, meditative style typical of essays.
- Literary Criticism — Analyzes traditional storytelling and modern narrative techniques, evaluating the merits of old tales versus constructed characterizations.
- Philosophy — Examines ideas of art, fate, and the nature of human expression, raising philosophical questions about the impersonal aspects of art.
- Folklore — Engages with old wives' tales and traditional narratives, highlighting their enduring cultural significance.
Tags
folklore · superstition · Irish culture · mythology · tradition · legends · cultural studies · folk wisdom · historical context · symbolism · literary criticism · poetic essay