WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

BY WILLIAM HICKEY

PROFILE

Born: Sandymount, Dublin, (June 13, 1865).

Occupation: Playwright, Poet.

Death: Menton , France , (January 28, 1939).

Education: Metropolitan School of Art (Dublin).

FAMILY

Yeats had two sisters (Elizabeth & Susan Mary) and one brother (Jack).

Yeats’ father John Butler Yeats was studying law but abandoned his studies to study art at Heatherley’s Art School in London.

Yeats’ mother Susan Mary Pollexfen came from a wealthy merchant family in Sligo.

Yeats’ brother Jack became an esteemed painter, while his sisters became involved in the Arts and Crafts Movement.

EARLY YEARS

In 1867 the family moved to England in aid of their father’s career as an artist.

At first the Yeats family were educated at home .

In 1877 Yeats first attended school in England which he attended for four years.

He did not distinguish himself academically.

For financial reasons the Yeats returned to Dublin towards the end of 1880.

Yeats resumed his education and through his father met many of the city’s writers and artists.

During this period Yeats began writing poetry.

YEATS THE POET

In 1885 Yeats’ first poems were published.

In 1887 he returned with his family to London.

In 1889 he met his great love Maud Gonne who became the subject of his love poetry.

In 1897 he formed a friendship with Lady Gregory and her home, Coole Park became the setting for several of his poems.

In 1903 Maud Gonne married Major John Mac Bride which inspired his poem No Second Troy.

NOBEL PRIZE

In December 1923, Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was determined to make the most of the occasion.

He was aware of the symbolic value of an Irish winner so soon after Ireland had gained independence , and sought to highlight the fact at each available opportunity.

DEATH

He died at the Hótel Idéal Séjour , in Menton , France , on 28 January 1939. He was buried after a discreet and private funeral at Roquebrune, Cap Martin.

Yeats and George had often discussed his death. According to George he said “If I die bury me up there (at Roquebrune ) and then in a year’s time when the newspapers have forgotten me, dig me up and bury me in Sligo.