The Celtic Twilight is one of Yeats' masterpieces and is part of Celtic Revival. Celtic Revival covers a variety of movements and trends, mostly in the 19th and 20th centuries, which drew on the traditions of Celtic literature and Celtic art, or in fact more often what art historians call insular art. In many, but not all facets, the revival came to represent a reaction to modernization. This is particularly true in Ireland, where the relationship between the archaic and the modern was antagonistic, where history was fractured, and where, according to Terry Eagleton, "as a whole had not leapt at a bound from tradition to modernity." It was a corollary, and part of, the general movement of medievalism; it came to be recognized that England too had a pre-Saxon Celtic heritage.

本书是叶芝的代表作之一，也是一部特殊的作品。之所以说它特殊，原因有二：第一，这是诗人叶芝以诗歌的笔法写出，却又并非诗集的作品。第二，这是诗人用来表达他对爱尔兰永恒的热爱的一部重要作品。实际上，这是一部叶芝饱含着诗人的激情整理出的一部优美的爱尔兰神话传说集。诗人浸淫在爱尔兰文化中多年，对于爱尔兰传说中的仙女等等魔幻力量的存在深信不疑，这种浪漫信仰给他的诗歌创作增添了特殊光彩。为了回报爱尔兰民族文化这个提供给他以无限灵感的美的母体，叶芝用诗人的笔触，记录下他喜爱的凯尔特风土人情。