WB Yeats was born in Sandymount in south County Dublin in June 1865 and is descended from a long line of famous Yeats'.

Jack Yeats was William's brother and a popular Impressionist artist in the 1920s. As well, his sisters, Elizabeth and Susan, became involved in the Arts and Crafts movement.

His father was John Butler Yeats who was an artist made famous by his portraits of his son William, and of John O'Leary, an Irish poet and Fenian, the precursor to the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

WB was a descendant of Jervis Yeats who was a Williamite solder and linen merchant who died in 1712. It was Jervis's grandson, Benjamin Yeats, who married Mary Butler, the daughter of a landed Kildare family. From this union, most descendants carried the Butler Yeats surname.

Not long after William's birth, the Yeats family relocated to Sligo, the home of his mother's family. WB came to regard Sligo as his childhood and spiritual home, and penned a number of poems from inspiration he gathered from his surroundings.

The Yeats' were members of the former Protestant Ascendancy, a term used mostly

by unionists, for whom it gave a "compensating image of lost greatness." While the family was supportive of Ireland's changes, the Nationalist revival of the late 19th century had direct disadvantaged for his heritage, as national power began to shift. The 1800s saw the rise of Charles Stewart Parnell and the Home Rule Movement. In the 1890s saw an increased momentum of Nationalism, as the Fenian's became a force to be reckoned with. The change in Ireland's power structure and the effects it had on all the people of Ireland had a profound effect on William's poetry, and his subsequent exploration of his Irish identity. These feelings would follow him to England, where his father moved the family in order to further his career as an artist.

Initially, all of the Yeats' children were "home schooled," being entertained by their mother with stories and folktales from Ireland. Their father provided an, albeit lax, education in geography and chemistry. William entered the Godolphin primary school in 1877. He attended the school for four years, finding interests in biology and zoology. The family's stay in England was short-lived though when they relocated to Dublin at the end of 1880, first in the city center then later in Howth. William went back to school at Dublin's Erasmus Smith High School. His father's artist's studio was nearby and William spent many hours there after school, and meeting some of the city's prominent artists and writers. It was at this time that William started writing poetry.
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Between 1884 and 1886, William attended the Metropolitan School of Art, now the National Collage of Art and Design. He was eventually published in 1885 with his poetry and an essay entitled "The Poetry of Sir Samuel Ferguson."

It was also in 1885 that Yeats was involved in the formation of the Dublin Hermetic Order. The same year, the Dublin Theosophical lodge was opened in conjunction with Brahmin Mohini Chatterjee, who traveled from the Theosophical Society in London to lecture.

Yeats was seventeen when his first works were written, including a poem heavily influenced by Percy Bysshe Shelley. His early works were both conventional and, according to critic Charles Johnson, "utterly unIrish." While his earlier works drew heavily on Shelley, Edmund Spenser, and pre-Raphaelite verse, he soon turned to Irish myth and folklore and the writings of William Blake. In later life, Yeats paid tribute to Blake by describing him as one of the "great artificers of God who uttered great truths to a little clan."

The family returned to London in 1887, and in 1889, Yeats co-founded the Rhymer's Club with Ernest Percival Rhys, an British writer known for his essays, stories, poetry, novels and plays. The group was London based poets who met regularly in a local tavern where they recited verse, critique each other's work and of course sample the taverns beverages! They eventually published a collection of their works entitled the "Tragic Generation," which was published in two volumes, the first in 1892 and the second in 1894.

Additional to Yeats' literary interests, he was also interested in mysticism, spiritualism, occultism, and

astrology. In 1892, he wrote, "If I had not made magic my constant study I could not have written a single word of my Blake book, nor would The Countess Kathleen ever have come to exist. The mystical life is the center of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write." This interest led to the publication of a number of works, including "Poems" (1895), "The Secret Rose" (1897), and "The Wind Among the Reeds" (1899).

In 1896, Yeats was introduced to Lady Augusta Gregory of Coole House by their mutual friend, Edward Martyn. They formed a close relationship quickly. Together with Lady Gregory, Martyn, and other writers including J. M. Synge, Sean O'Casey, and Padraic Colum, Yeats was one of those responsible for the establishment of the "Irish Literary Revival" movement.
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the relationship did not continue. Gonne was noted to have said that now that they'd gotten the business of sex between them over, they could move on.

During all the dramatics with Maud, Yeats maintained an active attendance at Coole House with his literary peers. In 1899, along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and George Moore, Yeats established the Irish Literary Theatre with the express purpose of performing Celtic and Irish plays. The Irish Literary Theatre ultimately become the Abbey Theatre.

When John Macbride was executed for his role in the 1916 Uprising, Yeats took the opportunity to propose to Maud once more. It was thought that the proposal was made more out of a sense of duty than genuine desire to wed her, so it was no surprise when she refused again. Yeats felt comfortable with moving on with his life. So comfortable in fact that when he met George (Georgie) Hyde-Lees that same year that he proposed almost immediately. Ironically, their marriage was a rounding success, in spite of their short engagement, their age difference and in spite of Yeats' feelings of remorse about Maud. The couple had two children, Anne and Michael. And spent many happy summers in their western home near the Coole Estate at Thoor Ballylee Castle, aka Yeats' Tower, AKA The Tower.

Yeats went onto win the Nobel Price for Literature in December 1923. He's noted to have said, "I consider that this honor has come to me less as an individual than as a representative of Irish literature, it is part of Europe's welcome to the Free State."

Yeats continued to publish and be an active member in literary circles into his later years. But one of his final great privileges was to chair a coinage committee responsible for selecting a set of designs for the first currency of the Irish Free State. He sought a design that was "elegant, racy of the soil, and utterly unpolitical." The committee finally decided on the artwork of Percy Metcalfe. Years later, Yeats' own image would appear on the Irish twenty punt note, nationally referred to as a "Yeats note."

At the age of 69, in 1934, Yeats underwent the Steinach operation, a vasectomy, and found a renewed vigoe in both his poetry and his intimate relations with women. For the next 15 years, Yeats was involved with a number of women, including actress Margot Ruddock and novelist and sexual radicalist Ethil Mannin. Yeats had always found "erotic adventure" to aid in his writing and creativity so it was no surprise when he began to write again. Including accepting an invitation to edit the Oxford Book of Modern Verse in 1936.
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Yeats succumbed in January 1939 while he was in France. He was buried at Roquebruce-Cap-Martin after a private service. He and Georgie had often talked about his death and his express wishes. According to Georgie, "His actual words were 'If I die bury me up there (at Roquebrune) and then in a year's time when the newspapers have forgotten me, dig me up and plant me in Sligo." In 1948, his wish was granted and his body was moved to Drumcliffe Church with the aid of the Irish Naval Service.

The epitaph is taken from the last lines of one of his final poems, "Under Ben Bulben"...

Cast a cold Eye
On Life, on Death.
Horseman, pass by.

Georgie was buried along side William when she passed away in 1968.

~ Free car parking available at the church
~ Visitors center with cafe and gift shop
~ accessable area