麦克尔·罗巴蒂斯与舞者

叶芝在该版前言中解释说：“这些诗有些可能难懂，也许比我所知的更难懂。歌德说过，诗人需要哲学，但他必须使之保持在他的作品之外。在最初几首诗之后，我渐渐着迷于麦克尔·罗巴蒂斯对杰拉尔都斯的《天使和人类之鉴》的阐释，在整理和编辑的兴奋之中，正如歌德本人在他一生中某些时期一样，不再能够把哲学排除在外了。我试图用一些注释帮助理解，……但我可能不成功。一个作家在风格上花了如此多工夫，要让他记住那对他来说就像那风格一样自然而合乎逻辑的思想对于别人来说就可能不清楚是很难的。我想，在最初的兴奋结束，思想变成了确定的信念之后，他对于简单的，也就是说正常的情感的兴趣总是有所增加了；他不再寻找烛台和火柴，而是在观看房间里的物件”（《校刊本》，页853）。麦克尔·罗巴蒂斯：见《库勒的野天鹅》集叶芝原注及《麦克尔·罗巴蒂斯的双重灵视》一诗叶芝原注；舞者：指伊秀尔特·冈。

“Years ago I wrote three stories in which occur the names of Michael Robartes and Owen Aherne. I now consider that I used the actual names of two friends, and that one of these friends, Michael Robartes, has but lately returned from Mesopotamia, where he has partly found and partly thought out much philosophy.34 I consider that Aherne and Robartes, men to whose namesakes I had attributed a turbulent life or death, have quarrelled with me. They take their place in a phantasmagoria in which I endeavour to explain my philosophy of life and death. To some extent I wrote these poems as a text for exposition.” —1922