Radford University Study Abroad Program
Dr. Jolanta Wawrzycka
European Literary Trails
Bliss Mulligan's Web Site 2003
Yeats Country
The Life of W.B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin on June 13, 1865. He was the son on John Butler Yeats and Susan Pollexfen. Growing up Yeats spent time between Dublin, London, and Sligo. The county of Sligo proved to be great inspiration for Yeats throughout his lifetime.
Yeats has been called the greatest English-language poet of the 20th century. When he was 21 years old his first volume of poetry was published, Mosada A Dramatic Poem. It was soon after this in 1889 that Yeats fell in love with Maud Gonne. Many of his works were inspired by this unrequited love.
The befriending of Lady Gregory in 1894 led Yeats to the purchase of Thoor Ballylee and also to the establishment of the Irish National Theater (Abbey Theater). The Wild Swans at Coole (1933), The Tower (1928), and many other books of poetry were published and received great acclaim.
It was in 1903 that Maud Gonne married the nationalist Major John MacBride. Yeats was crushed after having proposed marriage to Maud several times. Never getting over Maud, Yeats, who was fifty-two, married the twenty-five year old Georgianna Hyde- Lees in 1917. George, as she was called, helped Yeats with many of his works and was his most harsh and most helpful critic.
The most prestigious award was presented to Yeats in 1923. W.B. Yeats became a recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature. Just one year prior to this huge honor he had become a senator of the Irish Free State.
On January 28, 1939 Yeats died. He was buried in Roquebrune, France and in 1948 his remains were brought back to Ireland to rest in Sligo. He is buried in Drumcliff with his words:
Cast a cold Eye
On Life, on Death.
Horseman, pass by!
From "Under Ben Bulben"
VI
Under bare Ben Bulben's head
In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid.
An ancestor was rector there
Long years ago, a church stands near,
By the road an ancient cross.
No marble, no conventional phrase;
On limestone quarried near the spot
By his command these words are cut:Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!I think that the epitaph on Yeats' grave means that life and death is of no importance to him as long as his work is remembered. He wants people to read and appreciate his work, and appreciate him as an artist and poet. What Yeats wants to be remembered for is his poetry and his contribution to Ireland and the Irish people which is why his words are "set in stone".
Yeats Country Tour
Having spent much of his life in Sligo, W.B. Yeats' poetry was inspired by the countryside. While in Sligo we saw many of the places that Yeats wrote about in his poetry. Our Yeats Country Tour consisted of two days of nonstop travel and we were still not able to cover everything. Some of the sights that we saw were:
Dooney Rock
We climbed Dooney Rock and had a view of the Isle of Innisfree, Ben Bulben, and Lough Gill. Yeats wrote a poem, The Fiddler of Dooney, and so it was neat to actually stand atop of the rock and imagine what it was like in the time of Yeats. "When I play on my fiddle in Dooney, Folk dance like a wave of the sea..." The words of Yeats' poetry actually mean something to me now. I am now able to envision Dooney and the picture that Yeats was painting because I stood where he did and I saw what he saw.
Isle of Innisfree
"I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made..." The Isle of Innisfree is a small island on Lough Gill (lake). There is a boat that will take visitors to the island, but there is not anything on it. Yeats thought of Innisfree as a place where he could escape from the toils of everyday life.
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a
hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day Isle of Innisfree
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
(1890)
Yeats Poetry Dinner and Recitation by Damien
The dinner that we had at Damien's house was one of my favorite nights in Ireland. His house was absolutely amazing and it sat on Lough Gill. Damien is the man in the picture to the left and he has just finished reciting Yeats' poem, The Stolen Child. The poem describes the scenery behind Damien that is not visible in this picture, "Where dips the rocky highland/ Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,/ There lies a leafy island/ Where flapping herons wake..." Between each course of our dinner, Damien would recite Yeats' poetry and then discuss what it meant to him. One special treat that none of us were expecting was when Jolanta sang Yeats' "Down By the Salley Gardens" while Damien's son played the flute.
Glencar Waterfsll
There is a path that leads from Glencar Lough up to the waterfall. Glencar waterfall was made famous by Yeats in his poem, The Stolen Child.
Ben Bulben
Almost anywhere around Sligo you are able to see Ben Bulben. Ben Bulben is a massive peace of land that is sitting in the middle of the plain. You are able to climb Ben Bulben with a guide and though Lindsey and I planned on climbing it we were not able to get a guide or the weather. Yeats wrote the poem Under Ben Bulben which is where he wanted to be laid to rest. His grave in Drumcliffe lies with Ben Bulben in the background.
Ben Bulben from the beach
Ben Bulben in the background as seen from Dooney
Lissadell House
Lissadell House is a late Georgian mansion that was built in the 1830's of gray limestone. It is a harsh looking and cold house from the outside. Lissadell House was and still is the home of the Gore-Booths. One of the Gore-Booth daughters, Constance Markievicz (1868- 1927), was a famous revolutionary. She took part in the 1916 Easter Rising and was the first woman to be elected to the British House of Commons. W.B. Yeats was a close friend of the Gore-Booth sisters and a frequent visitor to Lissadell House.
While in Sligo, we were able to tour Lissadell House. Everything inside the house is just as it was when Yeats was a visitor. A few days after receiving a tour of Lissadell House we read in the newspaper that it was for sale for 2 million euros. The Gore-Booths are no longer able to manage the expense of the upkeep of the great estate. There was talk of the government possibly purchasing the mansion, but it will most likely fall into the hands of a private purchaser. Our group was probably the last group to receive a tour of Lissadell.
Below is a poem that Yeats wrote about Lissadell House and the Gore-Booth sisters. The "gazelle" and "the older" are both in reference to Constance Markievicz.
In Memory of Eva Gore- Booth and Con Markievicz
The light of evening, LIssadell,
Great windows open to the south, Two girls in silk kimonos, both
Beautiful, one a gazelle.
But a raving autumn shears
Blossom from the summer's wreath;
The older is condemned to death,
Pardoned, she drags out lonely years
Conspiring among the ignorant.
I know not what the younger dreams-
Some vague Utopia- and she seems,
When withered old and skeleton-gaunt,
An image of such politics.
Many a time I think to seek
One or the other out and speak
Of that old Georgian mansion, mix
Pictures of the mind, recall
That table and the talk of youth,
Two girls in silk kimonos, both
Beautiful, one a gazelle.
Dear Shadows, now you know it all,
All the folly of a fight
With a common wrong or right.
The innocent and the beautiful
Have no enemy but time;
Arise and bid me strike a match
And strike another till time catch;
Should the conflagration climb,
Run till all the sages know.
We the great gazebo built,
They convicted us of guilt;
Bid me strike a match and blow.
(1929)