Presentation Transcript

1. W.B Yeats (1865 – 1939)

   Poet, Playwright, Politician and Nobel Prize Winner
2. Summary William Butler Yeats was a widely renowned Irish Poet. He lived mainly in London but spent his summers in Sligo. Yeats was passionate about Irish Heritage, Mythology and Folklore. He died at the age of 73 in 1939. He co-founded the Abbey Theatre for the purpose of performing Irish and Celtic plays. It was originally know as the Irish Literacy Theatre. Yeats was a huge advocate for Modern Art in Ireland. From an early age he was fascinated by both Irish Legends and occult. Yeats was the first Irish poet to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He also served as an Irish Senator for two years.
3. Early Life and Family Yeats was born in Sandymount County Dublin. When he was 2 his family moved to London and stayed there until he was 16. His father John Butler Yeats was educated as an attorney but abandoned law to become a portrait painter. His mother Susan Mary Pollexfen introduced him to all aspects of Irish Heritage and set him on the road to becoming a poet. Yeats’ family was highly artistic his brother Jack was a well known Irish Painter while his sister Elizabeth and Susan Mary known by the family as Lollie and Lily became involved in the Arts and Crafts Movement
4. W.B Yeats Timeline
5. W.B Yeats’ Quotes part 1 Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which sustained him through temporary periods of joy. All empty souls tend toward extreme opinions. There are no strangers here only friends you haven’t met. In dreams begin responsibility. The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time. Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people. The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they’re sober. One should no lose one’s temper unless one is certain of getting more and more angry to the end. If suffering brings wisdom I would wish to be less wise.
6. W.B Yeats’ Quotes part 2 This melancholy London – I sometimes imagine that the souls of the lost are compelled to walk through its streets perpetually. One feels them passing like a whiff of air. Man can embody truth but he cannot know it. How can we know the dancer from the dance. But was there ever dog who praised his fleas. I am of a healthy long lived race, and our minds improve with age. Talent perceives differences; genius, unity. Those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love.
7. Poems
8. Unusual Facts about Yeats Yeats was dyslexic and struggled a lot in school Yeats’ father prophesised that Jack would be a famous Irish Poet. Ooops! Yeats the cult member!! Yes Yeats and his wife were part of what is known now days as a cult. A massive advocate for Irish heritage Yeats never learnt the Irish Language. Proposed to Maud Gonne on numerous occasion but also propose to her daughter Isuelt when he was in his fifties and she in her teens.
9. An Irish Airman Foresees His Death I know that I shall meet my fate, Somewhere among the clouds above; Those that I fight I do not hate, Those that I guard I do not love; My country is Kiltartan Cross, My countrymen Kiltartan's poor, No likely end could bring them loss Or leave them happier than before. Nor law, nor duty bade me fight, Nor public men, nor cheering crowds, A lonely impulse of delight Drove to this tumult in the clouds; I balanced all, brought all to mind, The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath the years behind In balance with this life, this death.