W B Yeats 1865 1939 AngloIrish landowning class

W. B. Yeats 1865 -1939

Anglo-Irish landowning class Dublin Chaotic artistic family Father portrait painter London His mother’s traditional Irish songs + stories, holidays County Sligo Aesthete at an early age, wrote verses, first published in 1889 The Wanderings of Oisin MAUD GONNE

Y. devoted himself IRISH REVIVAL IRISH PATRIOTISM seeking to develop a new religious iconography based on IRISH MYTHOLOGY movement against the cultural influences of English rule in Ireland during the Victorian period which sought to promote the spirit of Ireland’s native heritage

SPIRITUALISM IRELAND LOVE Ezra Pound introduced him to the principles of Japanese theatre

ABBEY THEATRE Lady Gregory, playwright J. Singe Senator in 1922 Married Georgie Hyde Lees SPIRITUALISM Nobel Prize 1923 As a poet he reached full powers late in life and after reaching his height, he sustained it up until the very end, writing magnificent poems until two weeks before his death THE WINDING STAIRS THE TOWER LAST POEMS

Y. straddles the 19 th. 20 th. centuries He stands at the turning point He started his long literary career as a romantic poet and gradually evolved into a modernist

His early poems were ODES to the beauty + mystery of Irish countryside He shifted his focus from Myth Folklore to contemporary politics

POLITICS ART Intrinsically linked + used his writings to express his attitude towards Irish politics to educate his readers about Irish cultural history POEMS could both critique comment on POLITICAL EVENTS

His devotion to MYSTICISM led to the development of a unique spiritual and philosophical system that emphasized the role of fate and historical determinism the occult Spiritualism Philosophy demonstrate his profound interest in the divine

He created a complex system of spirituality using the image of interlocking gyres History was determined by Fate fate revealed its plans in moments when the divine the human interact