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The Host of the Air

W. B. Yeats

First published 1920
Type Poem

First published in The Bookman, November 1893, with the title "The Stolen Bride" and the following note: "I heard the story on which this ballad is founded from an old woman at Balesodare, Sligo. She repeated to me a Gaelic poem on the subject, and then translated it to me. I have always regretted not having taken down her words, and as some amends for not having done so, have made this ballad." The title "The Host of the Air" was used in the 1950 Collected Poems and is how the poem is usually referred to subsequently.

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
1920 Cover The Book of Fairy Poetry Longmans, Green and Co. Anthology 80
1950 The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats Macmillan Collection 63
February 2018 Cover Irish Stories and Folklore: A Collection of Thirty-Six Classic Tales Skyhorse Publishing Anthology 69