11. Rose, Wind, and the Seven Woods

Poems to and about Maud, to be found in the volumes The Rose, The Wind Among the Reeds, and In the Seven Woods. Discussions of ‘When You Are Old,’ ‘The White Birds,’ ‘The Arrow,’ The Folly of Being Comforted,’ ‘Old Memory,’ ‘Never Give All the Heart,’ and (especially) “Adam’s Curse.’ Maud’s favorite Yeats poem, ‘Red Hanrahan’s Song about Ireland.’ The physical consummation of their love (December 1908), and Maud’s insistence on returning to their intimate but non-physical ‘Spiritual marriage.’