ABSTRACT
Date and circumstances of composition. The poem was written on 17 Feb. 1910, according to WBY in a letter with a copy of the verses written ‘today’ (CL 5, 729). However, as WBY made clear the poem was in fact one ‘I re-wrote’: there had been an earlier version, produced for AG's purposes but not included in the script of the play she gave to the Abbey for rehearsal earlier that year. WBY wrote to AG on 27 Jan. 1910 to tell her that ‘You forgot to put into the script of ‘Mirandolina’ my rhymed translation of the little song in Act II. There is a copy at Woburn Buildings but where I don't know. I don't remember it but will re-translate if necessary. You may have left the copy at Coole’ (CL 5, 698). Any search at Coole was unavailing, and WBY was still in Dublin up to the Abbey premiere (on 24 Feb.), so he undertook a reconstruction, which he sent on to AG on 17 Feb., telling her that ‘I re-wrote the little song for Mirandolina today, I think I have got it better than before [. . .] If set very simply I think it should be dramatically effective’ (CL 5, 729). AG replied the next day, telling the poet that she very much liked ‘the new little verse’, and that ‘it is better than the old one, so I am rewarded for losing it’ (Berg Collection NYPL, quoted CL 5, 729).
