William Butler Yeats Overview

"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold... " These and the other lines are part of a poem by William Butler Yeats. It's called "The Second Coming" and it was published in 1921. These lines have become some of the most memorable lines he ever wrote, of his poetry, drama, and prose...

William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin to Protestant parents. His father, J.B. Yeats, and his brother, Jack Yeats, were both well-known artists. Although W.B. Yeats studied at the School of Art in Dublin for three years, he abandoned art in favor of literature at the age of 21. His first published work was "John Sherman and Dhoya" in 1891.

In 1891, Yeats also helped found an Irish Literary Society in London. Then in 1892, he founded another society in Dublin. In 1894, he helped found the famous Abbey Theater, and became a leader of the Irish Literary Revival.

Yeats created a number of plays and poems: The Wanderings of Oisin (1889); The Lake Isle of Innisfree (1893); The Celtic Twilight (1893); The Secret Rose (1897); The Wing Among the Reeds (1899); The Shadowy Waters (1900); play Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902); On Baile's Strand (1904); his tragedy Deirdre (1907); The Green Helmet (1910); The Wild Swans at Coole (1917); Four Plays for Dancers (1921); A Vision (1925); The Tower (1928); The Winding Stair (1933); A Full Moon in March (1935); and Last Poems and Two Plays (1939).

In 1917, Yeats married Georgie Hyde-Lees, who had a medium gift, which affected his writing. He began to develop a new system of symbology and mythology. Some of his best-known works were written after 1917, including: A Vision (1925); Michael Roberts and the Dancer (1921); October Blast (1927); The Tower (1928); The Winding Stair (1929); New Poems (1938); and Lost Poems and Two Plays (1939).

In 1923, Yeats received a Nobel Prize for Literature. He died in the south of France on January 18, 1939. He was buried in France, but then brought back to Ireland in 1948. He is buried at Drumcliff in Sligo, Ireland.