Irishman and mystic William Butler Yeats received the Nobel Prize in 1923 "for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation." He was born on June 13, 1865, in Dublin, Ireland. His father was a lawyer and an artist who moved the family between Dublin and Bedford Park in London as his son grew up. Yeats spent his summers in Connaught, Ireland, where he studied at the Metropolitan school of art in Dublin and published his first poems in the Dublin University Review in 1885. He returned to London in 1887 and immersed himself in his writing career. He visited occultists, studied Irish legends and tales, joined the Theosophical Society and met the unrequited love of his life, Maude Gonne. 

William Butler Yeats�¢?? first major volume of poetry, The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, was published in 1889. In that same year he also published a children�¢??s book about Irish legends, Irish Fairy Tales (1889), but by the turn of the century Yeats had turned his focus to drama. With Lady Gregory he founded the Irish Literary Theatre and was a principal figure in what scholars have called the Irish Literary Revival. Yeats served as the chief playwright and director at the Theatre until his death. His plays are heavily immersed in Irish legend. Notables include The Countess Cathleen (1892), The Land of Heart�¢??s Desire (1894), Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902), The King�¢??s Threshold (1904), and Dierdre (1907). During his time as a playwright, Yeats founded a literary society, reformed another one, and never lost sight of his poetry and continued to publish several volumes. These collections include The Wild Swans at Coole (1919), Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921), The Tower (1928), The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933), and Last Poems and Plays (1940). His poetry is filled with political commentary on the developing Irish state, his feelings for Maude Gonne, themes on mysticism and the occult and his love for Ireland�¢??s culture and landscape. In 1917, he purchased Thool Ballyle, a Norman stone tower near Coole Park, and the location became a recurring symbol in his work thereafter.

In 1917, Yeats married Georgie Hyde-Lee, with whom he would publish an occult book on marriage, A Vision (1925). A patriot who served in the Irish Senate, Yeats received the Nobel Prize in 1924 for his distinctive poems. Commentators describe Yeats as the rare writer whose work improved after receiving the Nobel Prize. His later poetry, found in collections like New Poems (1938) and Last Poems and Plays (1940) was also well received. Yeats had a number of influences in his life, stemming from friendships with Ezra Pound, Lady Gregory, John Synge, and several Irish revolutionaries. However, he said that Sligo, Ireland, where his mother was lived and now contains her burial site, was the most influential of all. He wrote his final poem, Black Tower, and shortly thereafter passed away in 1939 at the H�?�´tel Id�?�©al S�?�©jour, in Menton, France.

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Articles About Yeats, William Butler

Conjuring Yeats	March 8, 2011
f you are searching for signs of fairies, jet to Ireland, and follow the western trail of poet and mystic W.B. Yeats, as I did with my daughter this past August. Over a century ago, Yeats published his first edition of The Celtic Twilight, a collection of magical and mythological tales gleaned from the country people of County Sligo in western Ireland.
Go to Know: Yeats' Ireland	March 8, 2011
"You got to go there," to know there, wrote Zora Neale Hurston. Although this African-American writer does not automatically evoke Ireland's patron-poet, Hurston's words are a compelling command for any serious student of William Butler Yeats.