author
W. B.
A central figure in modern poetry, this Irish writer blended myth, politics, mysticism, and personal feeling into work that still feels vivid today. He also helped shape Ireland’s literary revival and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923.
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About the author
Born in Dublin in 1865, W. B. Yeats grew into one of the most important English-language poets of the 20th century. He was also a dramatist and prose writer, and his work changed greatly over time—from early poems shaped by Irish legend and dreamlike symbolism to later poems that are leaner, sharper, and often more direct.
Yeats was deeply involved in Irish cultural life. He helped lead the Irish Literary Revival and was one of the founders of the Abbey Theatre, which became a major force in modern drama. His writing often draws on Irish history and folklore, but it also reflects his interest in mysticism, spiritual systems, and the pressures of modern public life.
In 1923, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Today he is remembered not just for famous poems such as "The Second Coming" and "Sailing to Byzantium," but for the range of his career: lyrical, strange, political, intimate, and always searching for a form equal to his ideas.