The greatest Irish poet and a monumental figure in earlier twentieth-century literature, William Butler Yeats represents, in his life and work, the transition from late Romanticism to the Modernism which came to dominate literature in English in the period between the two world wars. While closely associated with Ireland and its turbulent political and social history throughout his lifetime, Yeats developed, as a poet and a thinker, into a trenchant and memorable commentator on human life at large, in a creative career of poetry, drama and prose, extending over more than half a century. His several collections of poetry are evidence of the range of his interests and technique and, most extraordinarily, of his ongoing development as a m

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First published 26 August 2005

Citation: Spurr, Barry. "W. B. Yeats". The Literary Encyclopedia. 26 August 2005.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4833, accessed 9 February 2010.]