William Butler Yeats
He was a talented child. When he was thirteen, he won a prize for scientific knowledge competing against eighteen year olds. While he did good in school was never very good at Mathematics (Foster, 25). During high school, between the age of 15 and 16, was when he started writing poetry (Foster, 27). In eighteen eighty-five, his first poems and an essay called "The Poetry of Sir Samuel Ferguson" were published in the Dublin University Reviews. One of his friends at this time said that he would discipline himself to write two hours a day, whatever the outcome. By eighteen eighty-six he begun to publish regularly (Foster, 52).
The central theme of Yeats poems is Ireland, its history, contemporary public life, and folklore, as well as, Celtic folklore. He came to associate poetry with religious ideas and sentiments (Yeats 2, 1). He was interested in folktales as a part of an exploration of national heritage and Celtic identity. Yeats was fascinated with reincarnation, communication with the dead, mediums, spiritualism, supernatural systems, and oriental mysticism. He changed from suggestive, beautiful lyricism to tragic bitterness. (Yeats 1, 1). His early work tended towards romantic lushness and fantasy like quality, and eventually moved on to a more modern style (Yeats 2, 1).
William Butler Yeats was very devoted to writing. Early on in his career he studied William Blake's poem and Emanuel Swedenborg's writings and visionaries. In eighteen eighty-eight, "Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry" was published, which was a study he did with George Russell and Douglas Hyde (Yeats 1, 1).
He not only wrote poetry but was also very political. In eighteen eighty-six, he formed the Dublin Lodge of Heretic Society. Then in eighteen eighty-seven, he joined the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society, but later ended up resigning. A couple years later, in eighteen ninety-six, he reformed the Irish literary Society and the National Literary Society in Dublin.
The central theme of Yeats poems is Ireland, its history, contemporary public life, and folklore, as well as, Celtic folklore. He came to associate poetry with religious ideas and sentiments (Yeats 2, 1). He was interested in folktales as a part of an exploration of national heritage and Celtic identity. Yeats was fascinated with reincarnation, communication with the dead, mediums, spiritualism, supernatural systems, and oriental mysticism. He changed from suggestive, beautiful lyricism to tragic bitterness. (Yeats 1, 1). His early work tended towards romantic lushness and fantasy like quality, and eventually moved on to a more modern style (Yeats 2, 1).
William Butler Yeats was very devoted to writing. Early on in his career he studied William Blake's poem and Emanuel Swedenborg's writings and visionaries. In eighteen eighty-eight, "Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry" was published, which was a study he did with George Russell and Douglas Hyde (Yeats 1, 1).
He not only wrote poetry but was also very political. In eighteen eighty-six, he formed the Dublin Lodge of Heretic Society. Then in eighteen eighty-seven, he joined the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society, but later ended up resigning. A couple years later, in eighteen ninety-six, he reformed the Irish literary Society and the National Literary Society in Dublin.