The Tower

“That is no country for old men.”

W.B. Yeats’s The Tower is a landmark in modern poetry, blending reflections on aging, love, and politics with Ireland’s cultural and mythical heritage. Anchored by the iconic “Sailing to Byzantium,” this collection captures the tension between fleeting human experiences and the pursuit of eternal beauty. Set against the backdrop of Yeats’s stone tower home in Galway, these deeply personal poems explore themes of solitude, creativity, and identity.

The collection includes some of Yeats’s most famous and enduring works: the title poem “The Tower,” in which the aging poet surveys his life from the battlements of his Galway home; “Leda and the Swan,” a violent retelling of Greek myth that asks how history is born; “Among School Children,” a meditation on aging, motherhood, and the question “How can we know the dancer from the dance?”; and the two Byzantium poems—“Sailing to Byzantium” and its later companion, “Byzantium”—in which Yeats imagines a journey out of time into the realm of eternal art.

This is Yeats at his most philosophical and lyrical: a poet confronting his own mortality, the turbulence of Irish politics, and the possibility that art might offer a refuge from the decay of the body. The Tower is widely considered the finest collection of poems by one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century.

• First published in 1928, widely considered Yeats’s greatest single collection

• Includes “Sailing to Byzantium,” “Leda and the Swan,” “Among School Children,” and “The Tower”

• Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923; The Tower solidified Yeats’s reputation as a master of modern poetry

Available in multiple formats:

• Paperback & Hardcover: Beautifully designed print editions presenting the complete, unabridged text made to last. This special Poetica edition includes an insightful biography of Yeats and an annotated guide to his other works, offering readers a richer understanding of one of the twentieth century’s greatest literary minds.

• Ebook: DRM-free EPUB compatible with Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, and all major e-readers.

• Audiobook: Professionally narrated, complete and unabridged, available on all major audiobook platforms.

A beautifully crafted edition for your shelf, your device, or your ears—or the perfect gift for anyone who knows that an aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick, unless soul clap its hands and sing.

About the Author

W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) was an Irish poet, playwright, and one of the foremost figures of twentieth-century literature. A driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and a co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, Yeats’s works, including The Wild Swans at Coole, The Winding Stair, and The Tower, are celebrated for their lyrical beauty, symbolic depth, and profound engagement with Irish mythology and the human condition. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923, Yeats remains a towering figure in world literature, whose legacy continues to inspire and resonate with readers across generations. He died in France in 1939 and is buried in Drumcliffe, County Sligo, under the epitaph he wrote for himself: “Cast a cold eye / On life, on death. / Horseman, pass by!”