William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century, was known during his lifetime as an important cultural leader, a major playwright, and one of the founders of the famous Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Concentrating on Irish subjects, the mythology as well as the symbols of everyday traditions, he considered poetry the best medium for depicting the full complexity of life. Also a potent influence was the Irish revolutionary Maud Gonne, whom he courted for thirty years. Yeats used the occasion of winning the Nobel Prize in 1923 to promote Irish nationalism. He is buried in County Sligo.
WORKS THAT HAVE APPEARED IN NARRATIVE:
- Song of the Old Mother, poetry, in Poems of the Week: 2019–2020
- Yeats on Wilde, a memoir, in Stories of the Week: 2018–2019
- By Hand, a feature, in Spring 2019
- Adam’s Curse, poetry, in Fall 2017
- Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven , poetry, in Fall 2015