William Butler Yeats Collection
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was born in Dublin, Ireland. Yeats began
to write poetry while attending the Metropolitan Art College. His first publication
was in The Dublin University Review in 1885.
The following year, he
published his first book, Mosada , a dramatic poem. In 1887, after moving
to London, Yeats published his second book, an edited edition of Poems and Ballads
of Young Ireland . In addition to writing poetry he also edited and published
Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888) . It was with his book The
Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems (1889) that he made his first appearance
as a lyric poet.
In 1896 Yeats met Lady Augusta Gregory, a 44-year-old widow and playwright
desiring to create an Irish arts movement. With the help of Lady Gregory, he
founded both The Irish Literary Theater and The Abbey Theater. In addition to
the Irish arts movement Yeats also received the Nobel Prize for Literature (1923).
Special Collections retains various publications of Yeats's work from as early
as 1903. There are several first editions in the collection as well as many early
editions of his poetry and dramatic works. Several of these books were printed
by the Cuala Press which was a fine press established by his sister Elizabeth
Corbet Yeats.
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