William Butler Yeats
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was a poet and leader of the Irish Literary Revival. He was heavily involved in the Dublin Theosophical Lodge, and was also interested in hermeticism, spiritualism, and Rosicrucianism.
The oriental turn to his poetry and that of Æ (George William Russell) was credited to their acquaintance with Mohini M. Chatterji.[1] In 1923, Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Personal life
Early years and education
Marriage and family
Later years
The oriental turn to his poetry and that of Æ (George William Russell) was credited to their acquaintance with Mohini M. Chatterji.[2]
Literary career
Abbey Theatre
Poetic style
Nobel Prize
Theosophical Society involvement
In late 1884 WBY's aunt Isabella Pollexfen Varley, married to an artist in London and more intellectually modish than her sisters, sent WBY a copy of A. P. Sinnett's Esoteric Buddhism. This was the founding text of the fashionable New Age religion, Theosophy, blending East and West in a spiritual synthesis readily absorbed by its devotees.... After obtaining it, WBY lent the book to his friend Charles Johnston...[who] had been considering a career in the church; instead he went to London to interview the founders of the movement, and on his return introduced Theosophy to Dublin. Johnston was an established friend of WBY since the days at Howth from 1881 to 1882.
Dublin Theosophical Lodge
Other esoteric interests
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/brown-yeats.html
Writings
The Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals lists articles by and about Yeats, including many in The Lamp, a Canadian journal. For a complete listing of his works, see Wikipedia. Here are some of his most significant works:
Other resources
The Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals lists 49 articles by or about Yeats.
- Harris, Philip S. "Yeats, William Butler" Theosophical Encyclopedia (Quezon City, Philippines: Theosophical Publishing House, 2006), 682. Available at Theosopedia.
- Theosophy and the Theosophical Society at YeatsVision.com
- D.N.D., "Interview with W. B. Yeats," The Irish Theosophist (2:2, November 1893), 147-9. Yeats discusses his interaction with Madame Blavatsky in the earlier days of the Theosophical movement in England. From Theosophy Canada.