William Butler Yeats

(18651939). One of Irelands finest writers, William Butler Yeats served a long apprenticeship in the arts before his genius was fully developed. He did some of his greatest work after he was 50 years old. Yeats was born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 13, 1865, the eldest son of an artist. Although the family soon moved to London, the children spent much time with their grandparents in County Sligo in northwestern Ireland. The scenery and folklore of this region greatly influenced Yeatss work. For a while he studied art, but during the 1890s he became active in Londons literary life and helped found the Rhymers Club. Yeatss early work was not especially Irish. Soon, however, he began to look to the ancient r ituals and pagan beliefs of the land for his artistic inspiration. He tried to merge this interest with his aristocratic tastes to create an original Irish poetry and to establish his own identity. In 1896 Yeats met Lady Gregory, an aristocrat and playwright who shared his interest in Irelands past, especially in its folklore. In 1899 they formed a literary society that was the predecessor of the Abbey Theatre. Among his plays were The Countess Cathleen (1892) and Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902), with Maud Gonne originating the title role. In 1899 he had proposed to her, but she refused to marry him. He later proposed to her daughter, who also refused. A free Ireland was the object of the actress passion, and Yeatss love for her kindled his interest in the countrys political struggles. From 1922 until 1928 he was a senator in the Dil ireann, or Irish parliament. (See also Ireland.) Believing that poems and plays would create a national unity capable of transforming the country, Yeats devoted himself to literature and drama. In his work for the Abbey, which opened in 1904, he persuaded John Millington Synge to return to Irish folklore for subject material, and Synge wrote some of the finest Irish plays ever produced. Yeats, Synge, and Lady Gregory were among the leaders of the Irish literary revival. In 1923 Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. (See also Irish Literature.) Occultism played a significant role in Yeatss life. He was a member of the Theosophical Society and was impressed with the works of Emanuel Swedenborg, William Blake, Stphane Mallarm, and Charles Baudelaire. In 1917 he married Georgie Hyde-Lees, who was thought to be a medium. As time passed, Yeatss poetry became more polished and profound. The Tower and The Winding Stair were his last great poetic works. In his last years he lived on the Irish coast in an old tower that served as a symbol in much of his later poetry. In a prose work called A Vision, Yeats set forth his theories of history and of human personality. Always controversial, Yeats caused much discussion with his edition of The Oxford Book of Modern Verse, published in 1936. Some critics thought the selections in the anthology were too individualized, reflecting Yeatss own interests and attitudes. Yeats died on January 28, 1939, in Roquebrune, France. His body remained buried there throughout World War II, but in 1948 it was brought back to Ireland for burial in County Sligo. In a poem composed in his memory, W.H. Auden wrote, Earth, receive an honored guest; William Yeats is laid to rest.

Abbey Theatre
Reading Level 2

The national theater of Ireland and a center for Irish literary revival, the Abbey Theatre was opened in December 1904 in Dublin, Ireland. It took the place of an old theater on Abbey Street. Anne Horniman, an English theater manager who pioneered the British repertory movement, paid for the renovation. The Abbey Theatre was an outlet for such writers as William Butler Yeats, who was also a founding member of the theater and a good friend of Horniman. The Land of Hearts Desire (1894), Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902), The Hour Glass (1903), The Kings Threshhold (1904), On Bailes Strand (1905), and Deirdre (1907) were all works by Yeats performed over the years at the Abbey Theatre.

A fire destroyed the playhouse in the early 1950s, but a new Abbey Theatre, housing a smaller, experimental theater, was completed in 1966 on the original site. Although the Abbey has broadened its repertory, it continues to rely primarily on Irish plays and remains a national landmark.
Reading Level 3

Abbey Theatre, Dublin theatre, established in 1904. It grew out of the Irish Literary Theatre (founded in 1899 by William Butler Yeats and Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory, and devoted to fostering Irish poetic drama), which in 1902 was taken over by the Irish National Dramatic Society, led by W.G. and Frank J. Fay and formed to present Irish actors in Irish plays. In 1903 this became the Irish National Theatre Society, with which many leading figures of the Irish literary renaissance were closely associated. The quality of its productions was quickly recognized, and in 1904 an Englishwoman, Annie Horniman, a friend of Yeats, paid for the conversion of an old theatre in Abbey Street, Dublin, into the Abbey Theatre. The Abbey opened in December of that year with a bill of plays by Yeats, Lady Gregory, and John Millington Synge (who joined the other two as codirector). Founder members included the Fays, Arthur Sinclair, and Sara Allgood. The Abbeys staging of Synges satire The Playboy of the Western World, on Jan. 26, 1907, stirred up so much resentment in the audience over its portrayal of the Irish peasantry that there was a riot. When the Abbey players toured the United States for the first time in 1911, similar protests and disorders were provoked when the play opened in New York City and Philadelphia. The years 190709 were difficult times for the Abbey. Changes in personnel affected the management of the theatre, and the Fay brothers, whose commitment to nationalistic and folk drama conflicted with Yeatss art theatre outlook, departed for the United States. Horniman withdrew her financial support, and the management of the theatre changed hands several times with little success until the post was filled by the playwrightdirector Lennox Robinson in 1910. The onset of World War I and the Irish Rebellion of 1916 almost caused the closing of the theatre. Its luck changed, however, in 1924, when it became the first state-subsidized theatre in the English-speaking world. The emergence of the playwright Sean OCasey also stimulated new life in the theatre, and from 1923 to 1926 the Abbey staged three of his plays: The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock, and The Plough and the Stars, the last a provocative dramatization of the Easter Rising of 1916. In the early 1950s the Abbey company moved to the nearby Queens Theatre after a fire had destroyed its playhouse. A new Abbey Theatre, housing a smaller, experimental theatre, was completed in 1966 on the original site. While the Abbey today retains its traditional focus on Irish plays, it also stages a wide range of classic and new works from around the world.