William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and dramatist who is regarded as one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. He was a central figure of the Irish literary revival, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923.

Early Life and Education

Yeats was born in 1865 in Dublin and spent much of his childhood in London and in Sligo. He studied art in Dublin and became interested in poetry and in the occult.

He was influenced by the folklore of the Irish countryside and by the symbols of the occult tradition. He was a member of the Theosophical Society and of the Golden Dawn.

He published his first collection of poems in 1889. The early poems are lyric and romantic and draw on Irish myth and legend.

The Irish Literary Revival

Yeats was a founder of the Irish literary revival, which sought to create a national literature in English. He was involved in the founding of the Abbey Theatre.

He wrote a series of plays based on Irish myth and history. The Countess Cathleen and Cathleen ni Houlihan are among his most famous plays.

He worked with Lady Gregory and with other writers of the movement. The theatre became a centre of the cultural life of Ireland.

The Middle Period

The poetry of the middle period became more spare and more direct. The collections Responsibilities and The Wild Swans at Coole show a change of style.

The Easter Rising of 1916 and the subsequent political events affected his work. The poem Easter, 1916 is one of his most famous political poems.

He married George Hyde-Lees in 1917. The automatic writing of his wife provided the material for his philosophical system.

The Later Poetry

The later collections, including The Tower and The Winding Stair, are among his finest works. The poems combine personal experience with a visionary symbolism.

The poem Sailing to Byzantium expresses the desire for permanence and for transcendence. The Byzantium poems are regarded as his masterpieces.

He developed a system of thought based on the phases of the moon and on the cycles of history. The system is set out in A Vision.

The Later Life and Death

Yeats was appointed a senator of the Irish Free State in 1922. He served for six years and was involved in the debate on divorce.

He received the Nobel Prize in 1923. He continued to write poetry until the end of his life.

He died in 1939 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France. His body was later moved to Drumcliff, in County Sligo.

Legacy

Yeats is regarded as one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. His work shaped the development of modern poetry and of Irish literature.

He was a founder of the Abbey Theatre and of the Irish literary revival. His plays and his poetry are central to the culture of Ireland.

He is remembered for his lyricism and for his vision. His work continues to be studied and to be recited.

The Abbey Theatre

Yeats founded the Irish Literary Theatre with Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn. The company later became the Abbey Theatre.

The theatre produced plays by Irish writers and established a national drama. The plays of Synge and of O'Casey were first performed there.

The theatre was supported by a subsidy and became an institution of the Irish state. It continues to be a leading theatre.

The Occult and the System

Yeats was a member of the Golden Dawn and of other occult societies. He was interested in magic and in the symbolic systems of the tradition.

He married George Hyde-Lees, whose automatic writing provided the material for A Vision. The book sets out a system of history and of personality.

The system is based on the phases of the moon and on the cycles of civilisation. It influenced his later poetry and his plays.

The Political Life

Yeats was involved in the cultural and political life of Ireland. He was a supporter of the Anglo-Irish tradition and of the new state.

He was appointed a senator of the Irish Free State and served for six years. He was involved in the debate on divorce and on censorship.

He was critical of the violence of the period and of the narrowness of the new state. The poem Easter, 1916 commemorates the leaders of the rising.

The Love Poetry

Yeats wrote many poems to Maud Gonne, the nationalist and actress. The poems are among the finest love poetry in the language.

He wrote of the beauty and of the sorrow of the unrequited love. The poems combine the personal and the symbolic.

He also wrote of the ageing of the body and of the endurance of the soul. The poems of the later years are among his greatest.

The Final Years

Yeats received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923. He continued to write and to publish until the end of his life.

He died in France in 1939 and was later reburied in Sligo. The epitaph on his grave is taken from one of his own poems.

He is regarded as one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. His work influenced the poets of the modern movement.

See also

• Irish literary revival
• Abbey Theatre