Poet, Playwright, Politician and Nobel Prize Winner

William Butler Yeats was a widely renowned Irish Poet. He lived mainly in London but spent his summers in Sligo. Yeats was passionate about Irish Heritage, Mythology and Folklore. He died at the age of 73 in He co-founded the Abbey Theatre for the purpose of performing Irish and Celtic plays. It was originally know as the Irish Literacy Theatre. Yeats was a huge advocate for Modern Art in Ireland. From an early age he was fascinated by both Irish Legends and occult. Yeats was the first Irish poet to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He also served as an Irish Senator for two years.

Yeats was born in Sandymount County Dublin. When he was 2 his family moved to London and stayed there until he was 16. His father John Butler Yeats was educated as an attorney but abandoned law to become a portrait painter. His mother Susan Mary Pollexfen introduced him to all aspects of Irish Heritage and set him on the road to becoming a poet. Yeats’ family was highly artistic his brother Jack was a well known Irish Painter while his sister Elizabeth and Susan Mary known by the family as Lollie and Lily became involved in the Arts and Crafts Movement

1865Yeats was born on 18 June.1917Yeats married George Hyde Lees. 1876His family moved to England.1919Their daughter Anne was born. 1877Yeats was sent to Primary School.1921Their son Michael was born. 1881He went to Secondary School.1922Yeats’ father died. 1884Yeats joined art school.1922Appointed to the first Irish Senate 1885He published his first poem.1923Gets his Nobel Prize. 1887Yeats’ family returned to London. 1924A coinage committee appoints him as its Chairman 1889Yeats met Maud Gonne.1925Gets re-elected to the senate. 1890Establishes the Rhymer’s Club.1928He retired from the senate 1899Co-founded the Irish Literacy Theatre (The Abbey Theatre) 1934Yeats underwent a Steinach operation. 1904The Theatre Opened1939Passes away on 28 January. 1904He founded the Cuala Press1948His body is brought back to Sligo. 1911The Theatre goes on Tour.2014Joseph Greevy does an amazing PowerPoint on Yeats.

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which sustained him through temporary periods of joy. All empty souls tend toward extreme opinions. There are no strangers here only friends you haven’t met. In dreams begin responsibility. The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time. Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people. The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they’re sober. One should no lose one’s temper unless one is certain of getting more and more angry to the end. If suffering brings wisdom I would wish to be less wise.

This melancholy London – I sometimes imagine that the souls of the lost are compelled to walk through its streets perpetually. One feels them passing like a whiff of air. Man can embody truth but he cannot know it. How can we know the dancer from the dance. But was there ever dog who praised his fleas. I am of a healthy long lived race, and our minds improve with age. Talent perceives differences; genius, unity. Those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love.

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of HeavenThe Rose of Battle An Irish Airman Foresees His DeathThe Rose-Tree Adam's CurseSailing to Byzantium Blood and the MoonSeptember 1913 The Circus Animals' DesertionSong of the Old Mother Down by the Salley GardensThe Scholars A Drunken Man's Praise of SobrietyThe Second Coming Easter, 1916The Song of the Happy Shepherd Ego Dominus TuusThe Stolen Child In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz Swift's Epitaph Lake Isle of InnisfreeTo the Rose upon the Rood of Time" On being asked for a War PoemThe Tower PoliticsUnder Ben Bulben A Prayer for My DaughterThe Wanderings of Oisin Remorse for Intemperate SpeechThe Wild Swans at Coole

Yeats was dyslexic and struggled a lot in school Yeats’ father prophesised that Jack would be a famous Irish Poet. Ooops! Yeats the cult member!! Yes Yeats and his wife were part of what is known now days as a cult. A massive advocate for Irish heritage Yeats never learnt the Irish Language. Proposed to Maud Gonne on numerous occasion but also propose to her daughter Isuelt when he was in his fifties and she in her teens.

I know that I shall meet my fate, Somewhere among the clouds above; Those that I fight I do not hate, Those that I guard I do not love; My country is Kiltartan Cross, My countrymen Kiltartan's poor, No likely end could bring them loss Or leave them happier than before. Nor law, nor duty bade me fight, Nor public men, nor cheering crowds, A lonely impulse of delight Drove to this tumult in the clouds; I balanced all, brought all to mind, The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath the years behind In balance with this life, this death.