The Poetry of William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) was one of the most influential poets of the 20th century and a key figure in the transition from the Romantic to the Modernist era. His poetry spans more than five decades and reflects his evolving ideas on art, politics, mysticism, and personal identity.
-
Quick Facts
Born: June 13, 1865, Sandymount, Dublin, Ireland
Died: January 28, 1939, Menton, France (buried at Drumcliff, County Sligo, Ireland)
Occupation: Poet, dramatist, essayist, politician
Major Honors: Nobel Prize in Literature (1923)
Early Life (1865–1885)
Family Background: Born into an Anglo-Irish Protestant family of artists and intellectuals.
Father: John Butler Yeats, a painter and skeptic.
Mother: Susan Pollexfen, from a merchant family in Sligo; her rural heritage deeply influenced Yeats’s imagination.
Childhood Locations: Moved between Dublin, Sligo (with maternal relatives), and London.
Education: Attended Erasmus Smith High School, then Dublin’s Metropolitan School of Art.
Showed early interest in literature, mythology, and the occult.
Early Literary Career (1885–1899)
1885: Began publishing poetry in Irish magazines.
1889: Published The Wanderings of Oisin, a long narrative poem steeped in Irish myth and romantic ideals.
Key Relationships:
Maud Gonne: Met her in 1889; she became his muse and political counterpoint.
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn: Joined this occult society in 1890; would influence his lifelong interest in mysticism.
Irish Literary Revival: Became a leader of the movement to reawaken Irish cultural nationalism through literature.
Co-founded the Irish Literary Society (London) and National Literary Society (Dublin).
The Dramatist & Abbey Theatre (1899–1910)
Co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre (1899) and later the Abbey Theatre (1904) with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn, and John Millington Synge.
Wrote plays such as:
The Countess Cathleen (1892)
Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902), a nationalist allegory starring Maud Gonne
Embraced symbolist theatre and mythic drama, often drawing on Irish legends.
Despite his Protestant background, he supported the Celtic nationalist cause through cultural channels.
Unrequited Love & Political Awakening (1890s–1916)
Proposed to Maud Gonne multiple times; always rejected.
She married John MacBride, an Irish nationalist whom Yeats disliked.
Yeats became increasingly politically aware—though more conservative and detached than Gonne.
1916: The Easter Rising shocked him. Though ambivalent about violence, he immortalized it in Easter, 1916 with the phrase: “A terrible beauty is born.”
Gonne's estranged husband was executed by the British; this complicated Yeats’s feelings toward Irish independence.
Marriage, Mysticism & A Vision (1917–1925)
1917: Married Georgie Hyde-Lees, who was 25 years younger. Surprisingly successful marriage.
She practiced automatic writing, which inspired Yeats’s mystical system described in A Vision (1925).
Children: Had two — Anne (1919) and Michael (1921).
Continued experimenting with:
Theosophy
Tarot
Kabbalah
Astrology
Political Career & Senator (1922–1928)
1922: Appointed to the Irish Free State Senate, where he served for two terms.
Advocated for cultural preservation, education, and freedom of thought.
Nobel Prize (1923): Won for “inspired poetry” that reflected the Irish spirit.
Late Literary Mastery (1925–1939)
Arguably his finest period artistically.
Wrote iconic works like:
The Second Coming (1919)
Sailing to Byzantium (1928)
Among School Children (1927)
Leda and the Swan (1928)
The Circus Animals’ Desertion (1939)
Developed a darker, bolder, and more philosophical tone.
Obsessed with aging, art’s immortality, and historical cycles.
Final Years and Death (1930–1939)
Traveled widely in his later years: France, Italy, the Riviera.
Became increasingly interested in eugenics, fascism, and other controversial political ideas, though his exact beliefs remained ambiguous and complex.
Died: January 28, 1939, in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France.
Burial: Originally in France; reinterred in 1948 at Drumcliff, beneath Ben Bulben in County Sligo, per his wishes:
Cast a cold eye / On life, on death. / Horseman, pass by!
Legacy
Literary Impact: One of the greatest English-language poets. Bridged 19th-century Romanticism and 20th-century Modernism.
Irish Cultural Icon: Shaped modern Irish identity through art, not armed rebellion.
Theater: Founder of Ireland’s national theatre and promoter of Irish drama.
Mystical Thinker: Created a unique cosmology (A Vision) still studied by scholars of literature and the occult.
Influence: Revered by poets like T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, and Seamus Heaney.
Recommended Reading List
Poetry Collections:
The Tower (1928)
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)
The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)
Key Nonfiction:
A Vision (1925, revised 1937)
Autobiographies (1938)
Plays:
Cathleen ni Houlihan
The Countess Cathleen
Purgatory
William Butler Yeats was born on June 13, 1865, in Sandymount, Dublin, Ireland, into an Anglo-Irish Protestant family with deep artistic and intellectual roots. His father, John Butler Yeats, was a painter known for his skeptical and rational outlook, while his mother, Susan Pollexfen, came from a merchant family in Sligo—a place that would later haunt and inspire much of Yeats’s poetry. Yeats spent his early years moving between Dublin, London, and Sligo, where the rural landscapes and Irish folklore left a lasting impression. He attended Erasmus Smith High School and later studied at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin, where his interest in mysticism, mythology, and literature began to take shape.
Yeats’s literary career began in the 1880s, with his early work steeped in Romanticism and Irish myth. In 1889, he published The Wanderings of Oisin, a long narrative poem that captured the spirit of Celtic legend. That same year, he met Maud Gonne, a passionate Irish nationalist who would become the great unrequited love of his life and a muse for much of his poetry. Yeats proposed to her several times, but she always declined. Around this time, he also joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an occult society that deeply influenced his symbolic and mystical writing. A central figure in the Irish Literary Revival, Yeats co-founded the Irish Literary Society in London and the National Literary Society in Dublin, seeking to reawaken Irish culture through art.
C&C Editor’s Choice Edition
Recommended Reading List
Poetry Collections:
The Tower (1928)
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)
The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)
Key Nonfiction:
A Vision (1925, revised 1937)
Autobiographies (1938)
Plays:
Cathleen ni Houlihan
The Countess Cathleen
Purgatory
Blake Smith always carried Yeats [the above edition] in his Land Rovers. It started back in college at Lake Forest in the early eighties, and he kept at it through the years—until, at some point in the early 2000s, it was lost. The book was worn soft at the edges. He took it on long runs into the backcountry—dust rising behind the old truck, fly rod lashed down, a load of firewood shifting in back. At night, when the fire caught and the trees stood dark and tall around him, he would read by the flames. Under a canopy of stars and the crackle of flame, Yeats’s verses felt just right: haunted, mythic, quietly defiant. A voice to match the wild.
Audio Readings | Read in Text
In 1899, Yeats co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre, which evolved into the Abbey Theatre by 1904. Collaborating with figures like Lady Gregory and John Millington Synge, he sought to bring Irish drama to the public, often writing plays that blended myth and nationalist themes, such as Cathleen ni Houlihan, in which Maud Gonne starred. Though he came from a Protestant background, Yeats supported Irish cultural nationalism and used his art as a vehicle for national identity. His early plays and poems romanticized Ireland’s heroic past, but his tone began to darken as he grew disillusioned with political realities.
The Easter Rising of 1916 marked a turning point. Though Yeats had reservations about revolutionary violence, the execution of the leaders—including Maud Gonne’s estranged husband, John MacBride—deeply affected him. In his poem Easter, 1916, he coined the phrase “A terrible beauty is born,” capturing the tragic nobility of the rebellion. In 1917, at the age of 52, Yeats married Georgie Hyde-Lees, who was 25 years his junior. Despite the age difference, their marriage proved stable. Georgie’s practice of automatic writing became the basis for Yeats’s elaborate mystical philosophy, later published as A Vision (1925). The couple had two children, Anne and Michael.
Good Bio & Audio Resource: The Poetry Archive
Later collections The Tower and The Winding Stair are often considered his best. His reputation by this time was secure – he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. He died in France in 1939 and was buried in Drumcliffe Church, Co. Sligo as he’d requested.
In the wake of Irish independence, Yeats was appointed to the Irish Free State Senate in 1922, where he served for six years. He advocated for intellectual freedom, education, and artistic expression. The following year, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for poetry that reflected the soul of Ireland and the spirit of a whole people. These years also marked a period of creative brilliance. His later poetry, including works like The Second Coming, Sailing to Byzantium, Among School Children, and Leda and the Swan, dealt with aging, mortality, historical cycles, and the transcendence of art. Drawing on his mystical system, Yeats explored the theory of “gyres”—spiraling historical patterns that repeat over time—and increasingly used stark, symbolic language.
In the 1930s, Yeats traveled extensively, spending time in France and Italy while writing some of his most reflective and personal poems. He grew more politically idiosyncratic, dabbling in controversial ideas like eugenics and flirting with authoritarian ideologies, though his beliefs remained enigmatic. Despite declining health, he continued to write with sharpness and insight. He died on January 28, 1939, in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France. In accordance with his wishes, his remains were later moved to Drumcliff, County Sligo, beneath Ben Bulben—a place central to his poetic vision. His epitaph, from his final poem, reads: “Cast a cold eye / On life, on death. / Horseman, pass by!”
Yeats’s legacy as a poet, playwright, mystic, and cultural architect is immense. He is widely considered one of the greatest poets in the English language and a bridge between 19th-century Romanticism and 20th-century Modernism. His role in the Irish Literary Revival and the founding of the Abbey Theatre left a permanent imprint on Irish cultural life. Through his mystical writings, dramatic innovations, and timeless poetry, Yeats gave shape to Ireland’s soul and transformed personal vision into universal art. His influence endures in the work of poets such as T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, and Seamus Heaney, as well as in the global canon of modern poetry.
