About The Seven Woods
To Lady Gregory
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I walked among the seven woods of Coole:
Shan-walla, where a willow-bordered pond
Gathers the wild duck from the winter dawn;
Shady Kyle-dortha; sunnier Kyle-na-no,
Where many hundred squirrels are as happy
As though they had been hidden by green boughs
Where old age cannot find them; Paire-na-lee,
Where hazel and ash and privet blind the paths:
Dim Pairc-na-carraig, where the wild bees fling
Their sudden fragrances on the green air;
Dim Pairc-na-tarav, where enchanted eyes
Have seen immortal, mild, proud shadows walk;
Dim Inchy wood, that hides badger and fox
And marten-cat, and borders that old wood
Wise Buddy Early called the wicked wood:
Seven odours, seven murmurs, seven woods.
I had not eyes like those enchanted eyes,
Yet dreamed that beings happier than men
Moved round me in the shadows, and at night
My dreams were clown by voices and by fires;
And the images I have woven in this story
Of Forgael and Dectora and the empty waters
Moved round me in the voices and the fires,
And more I may not write of, for they that cleave
The waters of sleep can make a chattering tongue
Heavy like stone, their wisdom being half silence.
How shall I name you, immortal, mild, proud shadows?
I only know that all we know comes from you,
And that you come from Eden on flying feet.
Is Eden far away, or do you hide
From human thought, as hares and mice and coneys
That run before the reaping-hook and lie
In the last ridge of the barley? Do our woods
And winds and ponds cover more quiet woods,
More shining winds, more star-glimmering ponds?
Is Eden out of time and out of space?
And do you gather about us when pale light
Shining on water and fallen among leaves,
And winds blowing from flowers, and whirr of feathers
And the green quiet, have uplifted the heart?
I have made this poem for you, that men may read it
Before they read of Forgael and Dectora,
As men in the old times, before the harps began,
Poured out wine for the high invisible ones.
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September 1900
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—from The Shadowy Waters (1906) by W. B. Yeats
W. B. Yeats's 1903 volume, In the Seven Woods, takes its name from The Seven Woods—a wooded area located within Coole Park in County Galway, Ireland. Now part of a nature reserve valued for its historical significance, in 1903 the area was owned and inhabited by Irish aristocrat Lady Augusta Gregory, a woman who served as Yeats's lifelong friend, patron, and collaborator.
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As implied, The Seven Woods are made up of seven distinct woods, each with their own botanical style and type of plant growth: Shan-Walla ("Old Homestead"), Kyle-Dortha ("Dark Wood"), Kyle-na-no ("Nut Wood"), Pairc-na-lee ("Calf Field"), Pairc-na-carraig ("Rocky Field"), Pairc-na-tarav ("Bull Field"), and Inchy Wood (River Meadow").
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Also located on this property is the Autograph Tree. As host to many prominent literary figures, Lady Gregory had many of them carve their signatures into a Copper Beech tree. Among the names are W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, John Millington Synge, and others. The tree still stands today, and is a favorite with visitors.
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Coole Park, and especially its Seven Woods, held a special place in Yeats's heart. It is the location where much of his poetry was written, and this location in turn became the subject and setting of many poems. The lake and woodlands held mystic value, and can be seen as a spiritual inspiration for the organic, nature-based concepts that inform the themes in his writing. These concepts culminated with In the Seven Woods, which Yeats wrote while walking and contemplating these lands.
In 1927, Coole was sold to the Irish State by the daughter-in-law of Lady Gregory, at which point much of the architecture was demolished. Beginning in the 1980s, however, the land was restored as a publicly accessible nature reserve. Today, tourists can visit the visitor center, trails, and learn about the unique history of the region.
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*For more detailed information about The Seven Woods, please visit: https://www.coolepark.ie