William butler yeats biography and works
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She refused to marry the poet telling him that she would not waste her potential in marriage and domestic life instead of sacrificing it for the nation and her people, but she did marry "a drunker lout", a sailor very soon; the man divorced her very soon.
In the third phase Yeats bitterly left Ireland and returned to London.
He was introduced to Synge in 1896, and later directed the Abbey Theatre in Dublin with him. He drew upon Buddhism (an ancient Eastern religion), as well as upon Jewish and Christian mystic (spiritual) books to try and capture what he thought was a harmony of the opposite elements of life
Yeats believed that history was cyclical (circular) and that every two thousand years a new cycle, which is the opposite of the cycle that has preceded it, begins.
He had retired there because of ill health. While initially a nationalist, he grew disillusioned with popular politics, believing it lacked the vision needed for true cultural renewal. As its artistic leader, Yeats promoted plays that reflected Irish themes and voices, which marked a turning point in Ireland’s cultural renaissance.
Yeats consciously broke free from the constraints of traditional verse to create poetry that addressed the challenges of the modern world.
William Butler Yeats: Famous Works and Enduring Themes
Key Poems to Explore
- The Lake Isle of Innisfree: A nostalgic longing for rural simplicity.
- The Second Coming: A prophetic and apocalyptic vision of societal collapse.
- Sailing to Byzantium: A meditation on art, immortality, and the rejection of the physical world.
- Easter, 1916: A powerful response to the Easter Rising that grapples with the cost and meaning of rebellion.
- Under Ben Bulben: A defiant elegy that reflects on life, Ireland, and the passage of time.
Recurring Themes in His Poetry
Several key themes consistently appear throughout Yeats’s work.
She turned him down in 1917.
New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1989. He was also deeply influenced by the patriotic zeal of Irish nationalism. This was the world that shaped the life and work of William Butler Yeats, one of the most significant poets of the twentieth century. The Second Coming, perhaps his most famous poem, exemplifies this shift.
From 1918 to 1923 Yeats and his wife lived in a restored tower at Ballylee (Galway), Ireland.
They were strongly influenced by the no drama of the Japanese court, which was being translated in 1913 by the American poet Ezra Pound. Yeats's Secret Rose (1897) includes poems that he called personal, occult, and Irish. His involvement in politics and theatre demonstrates how his life and art were intertwined, each informing and shaping the other.
The Evolution of Yeats’s Writing Style
Early Romanticism and Pre‑Raphaelite Influences
Yeats’s early poetry, characterized by lush imagery and romantic themes, reflected the influence of the Pre‑Raphaelite movement and poets like Shelley.
The American poet Ezra Pound (1885–1972) came to London for the specific purpose of meeting Yeats in 1909.
Sharma, K.N. "William Butler Yeats - Biography and Works." BachelorandMaster, 23 Nov. 2013, bachelorandmaster.com/biography/william-butler-yeats.html.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. The Wind among the Reeds (1899) won the Royal Academy Prize as the best book of poems published that year. While still deeply rooted in symbolism, the symbols are now integrated into a more austere and intellectual framework.