William Butler Yeats Research Paper

William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin in 1865. He was born into a highly artistic family with his father being a talented painter and his sisters involved in the arts and craft movement. Yeats grew up under the nationalist revival of the late 19th century which disadvantaged his heritage and influenced his attitude and outlook for the rest of his life.
In 1876 the Yeats family moved to England to benefit William’s fathers painting career. William was home schooled for while, then transferred to a primary school where he didn’t stand out academically. The family moved back to Dubin because of financial issues and William resumed his education. Shortly after, in 1885 his first poem was published and he attended an art school. His early work was highly influenced by Irish myth and folklore and the writings of William Blake who was an English poet.
Yeats became drawn into theosophical beliefs and tried to gain contact with the other world. His poetry and writings were a display of his passion for mysticism and the occult science. In 1890 he became involved in the Golden Dawn which practiced many forms of spiritual development.
In 1889 Maud Gonne became part of William’s life when he instantly developed an obsession with her beauty and outspoken nature. He proposed 4 times, each times being rejected and in 1903 she married an Irish nationalist John Macbride. Maud had devoted herself to political struggle but Yeats was more interested in folktales and Celtic identity. She refused Yeats because she didn’t believe he was a true republican because he refused to convert to Roman Catholicism. However, Yeats’s poetry, politics and his involvement with the occult received an extra boost due to her