W.B. Yeats Exhibition

While driving west from Dublin towards Galway for our weekend class trip I couldn't help but think that W.B. Yeats would have gone the same way tours Coole Park to meet with his friend Lady Gregory. Yeats is probably one of the most famous poets. His poems center around themes such as Irish history (Easter 1916), myths and legends (The Stolen Child) and the sereneness of nature (The Lake Isle of Innisfree). Another theme which is also the central theme in Beckett's play Endgame considers the process of aging and so does Yeats' poem The Wild Swans at Coole.



Yeats was one of the first Anglo-Irish poets I would discover in Ireland during our hike in Howth during Orientation. Although he only lived in Howth for a few years, his house has a plaque which we all read with interest. It was nice that my Irish literature class would expose me to his poems throughout the semester because they really are beautiful. I learned that the quote on the plaque is from his poem He wishes for the Clothes of Heaven which he wrote for the love of his life, Maud Gonne (mostly an unrequited love).

Yeats' life is very interesting, and his role in the founding of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin with Lady Gregory's help as well is partly why he is so well known. The National Library of Ireland on Kildare Street (right near Grafton Street and St. Stephen's Green) is doing a wonderful and interactive exhibition on The Life and Works of William Butler Yeats which I would highly recommend. They are extending the exhibit until the end of 2009 so check it out while you still can.