John Sherman & Dhoya by W.B. Yeats

John Sherman and Dhoya, novella and story, are among the earliest of W.B. Yeats’s published compositions, begun at his father’s prompting when the young poet was living in London in 1888.

John Sherman is a poignant and delightful narrative that dramatizes the predicament of a young man in love, troubled by his senses. It is complexly autobiographical, projecting the poet’s Self and Anti-self through the contrasted personalites of Sherman and Howard, exalting a yearned-for Sligo in the west of Ireland at the expense of an alien English metropolis.

Dhoya is a wonder tale of the heroic age, also set in Sligo, blending Irish mythology with local legend, and anticipating the Celtic Twighlight stories of 1893 and the late Byzantium poems.

Published first in 1891 and again in 1908, John Shermand & Dhoya last appeared in America in 1969. This text followed that of the first edition and is accompanied by an Afterword by Eve Patten.

‘The novel was written by Yeats when he was in his twenties and sheds light on some of his thinking in his later poetry, but it’s enjoyable in its own right as well.’ – Customer review

‘[These stories are] made complete and special through Yeats’s poetry of thought and enchanting use of language.’ – Customer review