"When Helen Lived" - photo 1

"When Helen Lived"

Lot 153
02.02.2024 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 12 600
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1129774
Lot 153 | "When Helen Lived"
Estimate value
$ 10 000 – 15 000
YEATS, William Butler (1865-1939). Autograph manuscript signed ("W.B. Yeats"), being a fair copy of his poem "When Helen Lived," inscribed for John Preece, n.p., n.d.

Oblong quarto, one page, 148 x 175mm, conjoined blank (faint edge shadow where previously matted). Provenance: John Preece, 1895-1969, Australian literary editor and bookseller (presentation inscription) – Bonhams New York, 15 December 2021, lot 112.

"When Helen Lived." Presentation of a complete poem by W.B. Yeats. Helen of Troy and the Trojan War were often subjects in Yeats’s poetry, Helen being a stand-in for the great unrequited love of Yeats’s life, Maud Gonne; and the Trojan War as a foil for the Irish republican uprising which Gonne actively supported. "When Helen Lived," “No Second Troy” and “A Woman Homer Sung” were all written within a few years of each other and first published between 1912 and 1916.

“When Helen Lived” was written in 1913, and, reading it in conjunction with Yeats’s diary (where he repeats the phrase “a word and a jest”), leaves no doubt that Maud Gonne is undoubtedly its muse. Maud Gonne’s son, Seán, was then about nine years old and the family had been living in Paris for almost ten years (avoiding Gonne’s abusive ex-husband who had moved home to Dublin). In full: “We cried in our despair / That men desert, / For some trivial affair / Or noisy, insolent sport, / Beauty that we have won / From bitterest hours; / Yet we, had we walked within / Those topless towers / Where Helen walked with her boy, / Had given but as the rest / Of the men and women of Troy, A word and a jest.”

In the present autograph transcription, there is one word different in the first line from the published version. Yeats’s hand becomes noticeably more hurried as the poem continues.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
20 Rockefeller Plaza
10020 New York
USA
Preview
26.01.2024 10:00 – 17:00
27.01.2024 10:00 – 17:00
28.01.2024 13:00 – 17:00
29.01.2024 10:00 – 17:00
30.01.2024 10:00 – 17:00
31.01.2024 10:00 – 17:00
Phone +1 212 636 2000
Fax +1 212 636 4930
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase
Shipping Postal service
Courier service
pickup by yourself
Payment methods Wire Transfer
Business hoursBusiness hours
Mo 09:30 – 17:00   
Tu 09:30 – 17:00   
We 09:30 – 17:00   
Th 09:30 – 17:00   
Fr 09:30 – 17:00   
Sa closed
Su closed

More from Creator

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
£100
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
£100
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
£100
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
£100
Yeats , W, B,
Yeats , W, B,
€90

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.
?>