W.B. Yeats and the Muses explores how Yeats perceived the women to and about whom he wrote some of his greatest poetry in terms akin to the Greek notion that a poet is inspired and possessed by the feminine voices of the Muses. Newly available letters and manuscripts are used to examine the creative process and interpret the poems.

This work explores how nine fascinating women inspired much of Yeats's poetry, shows how his perception of these women as Muses underlies his poetry.

Joseph Hassett's beautifully written study follows a strong yet subtle argument through widely researched and scrupulously detailed individual chapters. The Yeats who emerges from it is clearly driven by the needs of his work as a poet; to that end all others are subservient.