W.B. Yeats

His Life: W.B Yeats belonged to the Protestant Anglo-Irish minority that ruled Ireland since “at least the end of the 17th century.” Even though he lived in London for most of his childhood, he maintained his Irish roots. In his poetry and plays, Yeats uses many different Irish legends and heroes (Poetry Foundation). This includes his poem: “The Wanderings of Oisin and other poems.” His self-image was very important to him which has caused some to accuse him of elitism (Poetry Foundation).

W.H Auden praised him for his poetry by saying: “Yeats accepted the modern necessity of having to make a lonely and deliberate choice of the principles and presuppositions in terms of which made sense of his experience” (Poetry Foundation). Yeats was first published in the Dublin University review in 1885. He was first interested in writing about other countries but decided that he did not want to write about anything other than where he was from– Ireland (Poetry Foundation).

Won the Nobel Prize in 1923.

Died in 1939.

His Love: At the end of 1886, Yeats met Maud Gonne whom he courted for “3 decades” (Poetry Foundation). Gonne was a devout Irish nationalist. She also had an influence on his writing like the poem, “A Man Young and Old.”

He married his wife in 1917. He became interested in the external and internal self within a person. This can be seen in his poem “The Mask” (Poetry Foundation).

Occult?!: Yeats was also very interested in the Occult. In 1890 he joined “the Golden Dawn” which was a secret society that practiced “ritual magic” (Poetry Foundation). He was an active member in this society for 32 years and met his future wife, Georgina Hyde-Lees while attending. However, even with his Occult ambitions, Yeats was still interested in writing about the physical world (he did not write about the mystical for the most part). According to the Poetry Foundation, most of his poems use symbols from ordinary life and familiar Irish traditions.

Theater: At the turn of the century, Yeats became interested in theater. The success of his plays such as “The Countless Kathleen” led to the founding of “The Irish National Theatre Society” (Poetry Foundation). Yeats became active in the management of the Abbey Theatre Company and wrote 10 plays during this time (Poetry Foundation). During this time his poetic style also transitioned into a modern 20th century frame (Poetry Foundation).

Irish Politics: He also wrote about Irish conflicts such as the “Easter Rising” which was an unsuccessful six-day armed rebellion of Irish Republicans against the British in Dublin (Poetry Foundation). Became a senator after the Irish civil war which also had an influence on his writing (Poetry Foundation).

-Posted by Leah Fischer

“William Butler Yeats.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-butler-yeats.