William Butler Yeats

Nobel Literature Prize in 1923  Together with Lady Gregory he founded the Irish Theatre, which was to become the Abbey Theatre, and served as its chief playwright until the movement was joined by John Synge.  His plays usually treat Irish legends; they also reflect his fascination with mysticism and spiritualism. The Countess Cathleen (1892), The Land of Heart's Desire (1894), Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902), The King's Threshold (1904), and Deirdre (1907) are among the best known.

Yeats poetry Yeats's poetry can be seen as consisting of three phases:  Early  Middle  Late

Early poetry  In Yeats's early poetry, up to the volume In the Seven Woods (1904)  We can see the influences of English Romanticism, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and Symbolism  Two further influences were the occult and the world of the Celtic twilight poets of the 1890s

English Romanticism

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Symbolism

Yeat‘s goals  Yeats saw himself as writing for Ireland and out of an Irish poetic tradition  However, his Ireland is the shadowy world of Celtic legend, rather than a contemporary reality  "The Song of Wandering Aengus" captures the essence of Yeats's early poetry

Celtic Legend

Middle period poetry  Yeats's middle period poetry can be read in the volumes from The Green Helmet (1910) to Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921)  Subject matter and attitude change  Love is dealt with in a more direct, questioning manner  Yeats still writes about Ireland, but it has become a real Ireland parts of which irritate or puzzle him by their complexity

Puzzling Ireland

Middle period development  He now writes about real events, such as the death of Robert Gregory; and real people (Lady Gregory) and real places (Coole Park)  With these changes comes a noticeable change in style from the meditative rhythms of the earlier verse to the more muscular rhythms and tighter syntax of this middle period  We can hear this new distinctive voice in the two poems: "No Second Troy" and "Easter 1916"

Final phase  The final phase of Yeats's poetry begins with "The Tower" (1928)  Yeats constructs himself as a very self-conscious bard in poems like "The Tower" and "Sailing to Byzantium"

Into old age…  He publicly celebrates Ireland's culture which he sees living in Coole Park and Lady Gregory and which for him become a symbol of a nostalgically remembered Anglo-Irish superiority  He contemplates old age and its difficulties, and meditates on the function of art in life

Final poetic phase  Yeats was also an Irish Senator, reflected in the poem:  "Among School Children„  and "Sailing to Byzantium„  They can serve as examples of verse from the last phase of Yeats's poetry

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