William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin on the 13th of June 1865, the son of John Butler Yeats, barrister turned portrait painter, and Susan Pollexfen, daughter of a wealthy (mills and shipping) Sligo family. Yeats's early years were spent between Dublin, London, and Sligo, attending schools in London and Dublin before entering the Metropolitan School of Art. However, he was increasingly drawn to writing through his admiration for the works of Samuel Ferguson and James Clarence Mangan.

His first volume of verse, Mosada, A Dramatic Poem, came out in 1886 followed by The Wanderings of Oisin (1889), the year that he met Maud Gonne, who was to trouble his life and inspire his poetry for many years. Yeats published The Celtic Twilight (1893), a volume that lent its name to a school of poetry noted for its wavering rhythms and its evocation of melancholy, dream-like states of feeling.

In 1894 Yeats found a patron in Lady Gregory of Coole Park, and they cooperated in research into Irish folklore, and (with Edward Martyn) in the Irish Literary Theatre. The Wind Among the Reeds (1899), contains the finest poetry of Yeats's early phase. Yeats's volume, The Green Helmet (1910), marks a departure from his earlier Celtic poetry, and it was followed by Responsibilities (1914), The Wild Swans at Coole (1919), Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921), The Tower (1928), The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933), A Full Moon in March (1935), and Last Poems (1939).

The poet married George Hyde-Lees in 1917, and through her cooperation as a medium he published A Vision (1925). They had two children, Anne and Michael.
Yeats's international reputation as a poet was assured from the 1920s, and in 1923 he was awarded the Nobel prize. The Irish state had already rewarded him with a seat in the Senate in 1922.

Yeats died on the 28th of January, 1939, in Roquebrune, France. He was buried there and, in 1948, his remains were brought back to Ireland to rest, as he had wished, "under bare Ben Bulben's head in Drumcliff churchyard".

Brief Chronology

	Born on 13 June 1865 at 5 Sandymount Avenue, Dublin. Son of John Butler Yeats, barrister who became a fine (though financially unsuccessful) portrait painter and Susan Pollexfen, the daughter of a wealthy Sligo merchant family. Shortly after his birth the family moved to London, where his father thought he might have more success.
	Went to the Godolphin School, Hammersmith, but spent delightful holidays in Sligo with his grandparents. When the family returned to Dublin in 1880 he attended Erasmus Smith High School, in Harcourt Street, Dublin. His father wished him to go to Trinity College, following the family tradition, but he refused, fearing he wouldn't t meet entrance requirements. Instead studied at the Metropolitan School of Art in 1884–5, then in 1886 at the Royal Hibernian Academy
	Writer, dramatist, founder of the Abbey Theatre Greatest modern poet writing in English.At Metropolitan became friendly with the mystic and poet George Russell and group of others interested in the occult. At Contemporary Club, ferment of ideas and lively debate, met Douglas Hyde, Stephen Gwynn, John O’Leary, Michael Davitt and other important figures. From early age had been writing poetry and plays in imitation of Shelley and Spenser About 1886 decided to abandon art and devote himself to writing.
	Publishes first lyrics in the Dublin University Review (1885). Works as literary correspondent for American newspapers, including Boston Pilot. Interests in Irish myth and commitment to Irish national identity cause stemmed mainly from living in West of Ireland and contact with the Fenian, John O’Leary. Joined Blavatsky London Lodge of Theosophical Society (1887) and Order of the Golden Dawn (1890). Experiments with occult were as much a matter of poetic imagination as a pursuit of supernatural. He met most of poets of his generation at Rhymers’ Club, which he helped found.
	1891 helped establish Irish Literary Society of London. Following year, in Dublin, joins John O’Leary in founding National Literary Society to publicise literature, folklore, and legends of Ireland. 1888 publishes Fairy and folk tales of the Irish peasantry and his Irish fairy tales appeared in 1892.
	1889 publishes The Wanderings of Oisin, long, highly imaginative poem based on Irish mythology,1892 The Countess Cathleen, first poetic play. Volume of folk stories, The Celtic Twilight, appears 1893. 1895 edits A Book of Irish Verse and publishes Poems. Three collections of poems appear 1897: The Secret Rose, The Tables of the Law, and The Adoration of the Magi.
	1889 Meets love of life, Maud Gonne, symbolises spirit of tragic beauty & Irish nationalism. Proposes marriage 1891 but rejected. Impressed by her revolutionary activities, subject of many of his love poems. Long-sustained passion had enormous consequences for his politics and poetry. Later wrote of nationalist politics in his Autobiographies as ‘the fixed ideas of some hysterical woman, a part of the mind turned into stone’, had her in mind. Became active in advanced nationalist politics after the Parnellite split (1890). Tried to mobilise nationalist literary groups as basis for Irish artistic revival. Joined IRB, played prominent part in the 1798 Rising centenary celebrations
	1896 met Lady Augusta Gregory,talented and capable woman whose house at Coole Park, Co Galway, offered warm welcome to writers and artists. She encouraged him and helped him establish Irish Literary Theatre. George Moore and Edward Martyn joined him as Irish Literary Theatre Society directors. Had first, 1899, performance, Yeats’s The Countess Cathleen, great lot of controversy over it. 1902 Maud Gonne played title role in Yeats’s Cathleen Ni Houlihan: dramatic triumph. Still deeply in love with her, but she rejected him again, to his horror married Major John McBride in 1903.
	Collaborated with Frank and William Fay led to founding of Irish National Theatre, Yeats and Lady Gregory co-directors. After 1900 abandons active politics Devotes life to writing. 1904 Annie Horniman, Manchester wealthy Englishwoman bought Mechanics’ Institute in Abbey St, Dublin, the Irish Theatre, gave it a subsidy for some years. On opening night, 27 December 1904, Abbey Players presented treble bill, On Baile’s Strand and Cathleen Ni Houlihan by Yeats and Spreading the News by Lady Gregory. It produces new Yeats play nearly every year. 1906, under new constitution, Yeats, Lady Gregory and J. M. Synge appointed directors. Yeats remains director until his death. The founding of the Abbey,in his own words ‘a small dingy and impecunious theatre’, marks launching of dramatic movement making Dublin important literary capital in century's 1st quarter. Yeats takes firm stand against clerics and nationalists, quarrelling over theatre's political and moral role.
	Yeats above all, a great poet. An American lecture tour (1903–4) establishes his reputation. 1913 receives Civil List pension of £150 a year, but 1915 refuses knighthood Year later proposes again to Maud Gonne, now a widow since execution of her husband John MacBride, for his part in the Rising. Refused yet again. Greatest achievement in poetry came with publication of 4 volumes between 1919-1933. The Wild Swans at Coole (1919), Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921), The Tower (1928), and the Winding Stair (1933). Several poems written in honour of the executed leaders of 1916 Rising, some of whom had been fellow-workers in literary movement.
	1917 Yeats marries Georgie Hyde-Lees (she 26, he 52). Marriage changes life and Georgie influences his poetry. In A Vision (1925),full of symbolism, sets out his ideas on mankind and art, the framework of later poems. Two children born, Anne in 1919, and Michael in 1921. 1922 buys Thoor Ballylee, small derelict tower-house in Co. Galway, close to Lady Gregory’s home, and 82 Merrion Square,fine Georgian house in Dublin
	Made Senator, Irish Free State by President Cosgrave Plays active Senate role. Chaired committee, design of new coinage. Later made remarkable contribution to divorce debate, including noble defence of Irish Protestant tradition with he strongly identified. Received honorary degrees from Queen’s University College Belfast and University College Dublin. 1923 awardedNobel Prize for Literature 1932 co-founded with George Bernard Shaw Irish Academy of Letters, promotion of Irish creative.
	Mid-twenties, health began to fail. On medical advice spends winters in Italy and France from 1927 on. One of last major literary undertakings ; editorship of controversial Oxford Book of Modern Verse, 1892–1935 (1936). Despite age and ill-health, output remarkable, especially owerful New Poems (1938) and Last Poems (1938–9). Late 1938 winter leaves Ireland for Riviera in failing health. Dies at Roquebrune, Cap Martin, south of France on 28 January 1939. Remains brought back to Ireland 1948 Re-interred in the churchyard of his grandfather’s parish at Drumcliff, Co. Sligo.