W. B. Yeats often spoke and wrote about his views on poetry and drama, as well as the delivery of each . His writing on these subjects encompassed both his work and that of his contemporaries and favorites. He provides us with "A General Introduction for My Work," which begins with his assertion that "A poet writes always of his personal life, in his finest work out of its tragedy," which has interesting ramifications for our site's chosen area of inquiry (Yeats, Essays and Introductions, 509). As he muses about the power of poetry, he composes complete essays on Shelley, William Blake, John Millington Synge, and others. All the time Yeats was writing poetry, he was also actively thinking about poetry, its purposes and aims, both in general and for himself.