In addition to his considerable gifts as a poet, William Butler Yeats had a deep and lifelong interest in Irish folklore, and in The Celtic Twilight he collects tales told by friends, neighbors and acquaintances that venture into the realm of the mystical and magical.  The title refers to the pre-dawn hours when Druid rituals were performed. These words from Yeats’ introduction give a good sense of his purpose in plucking this “handful of dreams”.

I have desired, like every artist, to create a little world out of the beautiful, pleasant, and significant things of this marred and clumsy world, and to show in a vision something of the face of Ireland to any of my own people who would look where I bid them. I have therefore written down accurately and candidly much that I have heard and seen, and, except by way of commentary, nothing that I have merely imagined. I have, however, been at no pains to separate my own beliefs from those of the peasantry, but have rather let my men and women, dhouls and faeries, go their way unoffended or defended by any argument of mine. The things a man has heard and seen are threads of life, and if he pull them carefully from the confused distaff of memory, any who will can weave them into whatever garments of belief please them best. I too have woven my garment like another, but I shall try to keep warm in it, and shall be well content if it do not unbecome me.

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