Poet, Playwright, Politician and Nobel Prize Winner

W.B Yeats (1865 – 1939)

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 1939.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.

Summary

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

Early Life and Family

1865

Yeats was born on 18 June. 1917

Yeats married George Hyde Lees.

1876

His family moved to England.

1919

Their daughter Anne was born.

1877

Yeats was sent to Primary School.

1921

Their son Michael was born.

1881

He went to Secondary School.

1922

Yeats’ father died.

1884

Yeats joined art school. 1922

Appointed to the first Irish Senate

1885

He published his first poem.

1923

Gets his Nobel Prize.

1887

Yeats’ family returned to London.

1924

A coinage committee appoints him as its Chairman

1889

Yeats met Maud Gonne. 1925

Gets re-elected to the senate.

1890

Establishes the Rhymer’s Club.

1928

He retired from the senate

1899

Co-founded the Irish Literacy Theatre (The Abbey Theatre)

1934

Yeats underwent a Steinach operation.

1904

The Theatre Opened 1939

Passes away on 28 January.

1904

He founded the Cuala Press 1948

His body is brought back to Sligo.

1911

The Theatre goes on Tour. 2014

Joseph Greevy does an amazingPowerPoint on Yeats.

W.B Yeats Timeline

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.

W.B Yeats’ Quotes part 1

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.

W.B Yeats’ Quotes part 2

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

The Rose of Battle

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

The Rose-Tree

Adam's Curse Sailing to Byzantium

Blood and the Moon September 1913

The Circus Animals' Desertion Song of the Old Mother

Down by the Salley Gardens The Scholars

A Drunken Man's Praise of Sobriety

The Second Coming

Easter, 1916 The Song of the Happy Shepherd

Ego Dominus Tuus The Stolen Child

In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz

Swift's Epitaph

Lake Isle of Innisfree To the Rose upon the Rood of Time"

On being asked for a War Poem The Tower

Politics Under Ben Bulben

A Prayer for My Daughter The Wanderings of Oisin

Remorse for Intemperate Speech

The Wild Swans at Coole

Poems

Yeats was dyslexic and struggled a lot in schoolYeats’ 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.

Unusual Facts about Yeats

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 lossOr leave them happier than before.Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,A lonely impulse of delightDrove 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 behindIn balance with this life, this death.

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death