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William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

Irish poet and dramatist, and Nobel laureate, who was a leader of the Irish Renaissance and one of the foremost writers of the 20th century.

Since his death there have been numerous biographies written about him. It has been stated "the more that has been written, the more elusive he has become.." This is true of a man who hid behind "masks" to defend his own inner reality. He spent much of his life attempting to understand the deep contradictions within his mind and working on his inner self.

Yeats and his father were raised in the time of pedagogy. That is, strict moralistic discipline to train children. ".. he sent them to a school kept by a Scotsman whose floggings were famous". He later said "When I left that school for good, I felt myself to be empty .. there was a void within.." His personal appearance was out of the ordinary , almost foriegn looking. He felt extremely self conscious and his inadequacies were constantly being criticized. He was called mentally as well as physically defective. His father resorted to "boxing his ears" to teach him and terrorizing him by references to his "moral degradation" and "likeness to disagreeable people". Yeats was in a constant state of terror. He became extremely timid. Seeking refuge from this environment, Yeats found what he wanted in daydreaming and solitude. He had a poet's heart.

Reaching manhood, he was described as "gentle.." but within grew the need for self-assertion and the need to "break away from my father's influence". He was besieged internally by uncertainties that were difficult to control. He felt the need to "Create yourself; be yourself your poem". He felt divided within himself, he had a continual battle with his senses and was filled with self-loathing at what he thought was an unnatural and horrible state of mind. Painfully turned inwards, he was too shy to accept invitations and hid his timidity under arrogance. He was totally self-conscious of his own clumsiness and remembered all his life how he felt when Oscar Wilde disapproved of the color of his shoes. He felt he was constantly committing "gaffes". "I was always conscious of something helpless ... in my self. I could not hold my opinions among people who would make light of them ..." He was extremely unhappy and made frequent mention in his letters of his "dreadful despondent moods." He often referred to his bad health and even to physical breakdown. In this state he found writing difficult.
A deep thinker, he realized that he comprised of different aspects. That the conflict within himself was amplified by his sense of disconnection from himself, a divided self. He realized the seen and unseen part of himself, the defenses within he had constructed to defend himself from external reality. His "masks" that he presented to the world to prevent others from knowing his true inner self. He spent his life working on resolving this inner conflict. "I pray ... That I, all foliage gone, ... May shoot into my joy" -YEATS, The Hernes's Egg

Yeats succeeded in changing his personality and life. His inner and outer suffering encouraged him to nourish his imagination on heroic self-projections until his dreams far exceeded reality. With great courage and will, he become the hero of whom he had dreamed of being. His aim was inner mastery. To follow him from the beginning to the end of his life is to conclude that he was one of the true heroes of literature, who fought past inner conflict and conventionality. His life was a continual combat, and he chose the hardest battles when he might have chosen easier ones. As he himself remarked

"Why should we honor those that die upon the field of battle? ... A man may show as reckless a courage in entering into the abys

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