Selected Poems

W.B. Yeats (1865-1939) was born in Dublin and laid the foundations for an Irish literary revival, drawing inspiration on Irish folklore, the occult and Celtic ideas in his writing. He wrote both poetry and plays, helping to found the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. He married Georgia Hyde-Lees in 1917, whose 'automatic writing' formed the basis for a philosophy increasingly at odds with the modern world, became a member of the Irish senate in 1922 and in 1923 was awarded the Nobel Prize.