The Land of Heart's Desire

The Land of Heart's Desire is a play by Irish poet, dramatist, and 1923 Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats. First performed in the spring of 1894, at the Avenue Theatre in London, where it ran for a little over six weeks, it was the first professional performance of one of Yeats' plays.

Contents

• The land of heart s desire by william butler yeats
• The land of heart s desire by w b yeats read by tom o bedlam
• Characters
• Influence
• References

In this theatrical lament on age and thwarted aspirations, a faery child encounters the newlyweds Shawn and Mary Bruin at their home, shared with Maurteen Bruin and Bridget Bruin, Shawn's parents. The child, who at first is thought of by the Bruins as of gentle birth, denounces God and shocks Father Hart. She expounds on the ephemeral nature of life, in a bid to entice the newly-wed Maire to leave with her to the world of faery:

Shawn implores the previously listless Maire to remain in the real world, but she dies in his arms, surrendering herself to the laughter and eternal, youthful dance of the otherworld, and to the seductive draw of immortality and mindless joy.