He was born in Sandymount, Ireland.

-      What significant events did he live through?

His poetry was published for the first time in the Dublin University Review in 1885.

Met John O’Leary in 1885.

Moving to London at the end of 1886. 

Award of the Nobel Prize in 1923. 

Family: His family was a wealthy, creative and supportive family. 

Wife (Georgie Hyde Lees): It was a successful marriage; however, not a passionate relationship.

Children: Had two children, Anne and Michael.

-      Who were his love interests?

Maud Gonne

-      Some significant events in his relationships that could influence his work

Love interest towards Maud Gonne, 3 times of proposal and rejections. 

He maintained his cultural roots, featuring Irish legends and heroes in many of his poems and plays when he was 14. 

-      How did his work evolve over time?

è  Heavily inspired by Irish folklore and symbolism as a young poet (long poems, epic in style, mystical, romantic) 

è  After the midst of the independence movement, his style become more modernist and explicit 

è  In the last decade or two he enjoyed a creative rejuvenation (mystical and symbolic style)  

-      What was his work influenced by?

Met John O’Leary, a famous patriot and produced many poems based on Irish legends, folklore, ballads and songs instead of romantic settings and themes that he preferred. 

- What was his work influenced by?
Yeats was influenced by Irish folklore, ornate language and symbolism

 

13 June 1865, Sandymount, Ireland.

 

-       What significant events did he live through?

 

Irish War of Independence

WW1 and WW2 

Georgie Hyde-Lees was the wife of the poet William Butler Yeats. He was 27 years her senior, they were married for 22 years. They had two children together. 

 

-       Who were his love interests?

Before marrying his wife, in 1889 Yeats met Maud Gonne, an Irish beauty, ardent and brilliant. He fell in love with her, but his love was hopeless. Maud Gonne liked and admired him, but she was not in love with him.

 

-       Some significant events in his relationships that could influence his work

In 1889 Yeats met the woman who became the greatest single influence on his life and poetry, Maud Gonne but she rejected him multiple times leaving him heart broken. 

In 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature

Remembered as one of the leading Western poets of the 20th century

 

-       How did his work evolve over time?

In his early years Yeats’s poetry was considered to be both conventional and 'utterly unIrish', as he started his career as a romantic poet. However, he gradually evolved into a modernist poet. 

 

-       What was his work influenced by?

 

He met George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and other poets and artists who influenced him to write.