IMAGINATIONS AND REVERIES
--by AE [George William Russell]





PREFACE


The publishers of this book thought that a volume of articles and
tales written by me during the past twenty-five years would have
interest enough to justify publication, and asked me to make a
selection. I have not been able to make up a book with only one
theme. My temperament would only allow me to be happy when I was
working at art. My conscience would not let me have peace unless
I worked with other Irishmen at the reconstruction of Irish life.
Birth in Ireland gave me a bias towards Irish nationalism, while
the spirit which inhabits my body told me the politics of eternity
ought to be my only concern, and that all other races equally with
my own were children of the Great King. To aid in movements one
must be orthodox. My desire to help prompted agreement, while my
intellect was always heretical. I had written out of every mood,
and could not retain any mood for long. If I advocated a national
ideal I felt immediately I could make an equal plea for more
cosmopolitan and universal ideas. I have observed my intuitions
wherever they drew me, for I felt that the Light within us knows
better than any other the need and the way. So I have no book on
one theme, and the only unity which connects what is here written
is a common origin. The reader must try a balance between the