Concetti Chiave
- William Keats, born in Dublin, is celebrated as a major 20th-century poet, known for his versatile and evocative language.
- His early works focused on Irish legends and folktales, reflecting Romantic influences and symbolic elements from Pre-Raphaelite art.
- From 1900 to 1914, Keats's poetry transitioned to realism, addressing political and social themes amid Ireland's push for independence.
- The poem "Easter 1916" exemplifies Keats's realistic style, centered on the failed Irish rebellion known as the Easter Rising.
- In "Easter 1916", Keats honors those who died for Irish independence, while expressing a complex view on patriotism.
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William Butler Yeats: an introduction and his literary models
William Keats was born in a Protestant family in Dublin and today he is considered one of the major poets of the 20th century. He was a very versatile poet who used an evocative and suggestive language.
His first collections concentrate on Irish legends and folktales, an important part of the Irish heritage and important for reviving Irish identity.
For example: in 1885 he started to write some poems in the Dublin University Review; in 1889, when he was 24, he published The Wandering of Oisin and Other Poems; in 1893 the collection of poems The Rose was printed.
During this period his style was strongly influenced by Romanticism and the symbolic paintings of Pre-Raphaelites. The themes of his works are magic and mystical.
William Butler Yeats’ biography
The poet was born in 1865 in a Dubliner suburb.Since his father was a painter, he initially studied at the School of Art in Dublin but he soon became passionate about poetry and literature.
In 1887 he started to live in London and he got to knew the principles of French Symbolist Movement and poets like Mallarmé, Baudelaire and Verlaine.
In 1899, other poets and himself founded the Irish Theatrical Society, an initiative focused on the conservation, spread and valorisation of patriotic and national topics.
Despite some delusional yet fiery love affairs, especially with Maude Gonne, and a depressional status, he married Georgie Hyde-Lees in 1917. She was used to experiment with automatic writing, even during their honeymoon, and this influenced Yeats’ The Wild Swans at Coole.
In 1922, Irish Free State was established and until 1928 Yeats was appointed as senator in the Parliament.
On the other hand, in 1923, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature because of his poetry and the national spirit that could have been found in it.
Yeats died in 1939 at 64 in France but he will be always remembered as the founder of the Celtic Revival movement.
William Butler Yeats’ evolution of poetic style
His style changed from the 1900 to 1914 with a more realistic type of poetry because it was linked to political and social themes. As a matter of fact, this period was strongly influenced by the Irish society and the quest for Irish independence.
An example of the realistic style of Keats is the poem "Easter 1916" in which Yeats was focused on the Irish rebellion known as the Easter Rising that took place in Dublin on the 24th of April 1916.
On Easter Monday 1916 a rebellion took place in Dublin, at the General Post Office by an extremist group known as Sinn Fein, who declared Ireland a free republic. The revolt failed, in fact the English police stopped the rebellion and 15 people were executed while others were imprisoned or tortured.
According to this poetry, Keats wanted to remember the people who lost their life (such as Constance Markievicz, Patrick Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh and John MacBride) because of the Irish cause but he also was aimed to express his ambivalent attitude towards patriotism.
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