William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (June 13, 1865 - January 28, 1939), often referred to as "W.B. Yeats," was a leading Irish poet, and also a playwright. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, Yeats was one of the most important contributors to 20th century literature. His work includes The Tower (1928), The Winding Stair and other Poems (1929), and the play Purgatory (shown 1938). Yeats also served two terms in the Séanad, the Irish Senate.
Yeats was born in Dublin but raised primarily in County Sligo and in London. His father, John Butler Yeats, was a well-known painter. Though born into the Protestant Ascendancy, W. B. Yeats became an important figure in the Celtic Revival, a movement that championed native Irish culture over English influences. Much of his work draws upon Irish mythology and folklore. His life and poetry was influenced by the revolutionary Irish nationalist Maud Gonne, whom he met in 1899 and unsuccessfully asked to marry him. Yeats cofounded Dublin's famous Abbey Theatre.
He had two children and had a vasectomy in 1931 in the belief that it would bring him physical and mental rejuvenation.[1]
Contents
Poems
- The Lake Isle of Innisfree
- Easter 1916
- Under Ben Bulben
- He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
- When You Are Old
Plays
- Cathleen ni Houlihan
- The Land of Heart's Desire
- The Hourglass
- On Baile's Strand
