William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeatswas an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms. Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and, along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn, and others, founded the Abbey Theatre, where he served as its chief during its early years. In 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth13 June 1865
CitySandymount, Ireland
CountryIreland
Until the axle break That keeps the stars in their round, And hands hurl in the deep The banners of East and West, And the girdle of light is unbound, Your breast will not lie by the breast Of your beloved in sleep
When we are young we long to tread a way none have trod before
The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk, they're sober.
When two close kindred meetWhat better than call a dance?
Like a long-legged fly upon the stream His mind moves among silence
Hurrah for revolution and more cannon-shot!A beggar upon horseback lashes a beggar on foot,Hurrah for revolution and cannon come again!The beggars have changed places but the lash goes on.
Think where mans glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends.
I'd as soon listen to dried peas in a bladder, as listen to your thoughts.
It is a hard thing to be married to a man of learning that must always be having arguments.
O love is the crooked thing,There is nobody wise enoughTo find out all that is in it.
A man who does not exist,A man who is but a dream.
The folly that man doesOr must suffer, if he woosA proud woman not kindred of his soul.
I have no question:It is enough, I know what fixed the stationOf star and cloud.And knowing all, I cry. . . .
he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.'