w.b. yeats

This year marks the centenary of a great turning point in social history. After several decades of suffrage struggle, The Qualification Act of 1918 permitted women (over the age of 30) to vote and stand as candidates in elections. In the…

The first Olympic medal won by the Irish Free State was a silver medal in 1924, awarded Jack Butler Yeats for his 1923 painting The Liffey Swim. That may seem surprising today, however between 1912 and 1948 the arts took pride of place…

It is the year 1927 and I am sitting in the dark vestibule of the Festival Theatre in Cambridge. I am listening to a rich Irish voice that seems to intone a request that I should come to Dublin and produce for the Abbey Theatre. The voice…

“It was all very romantic,” my English teacher once explained, looking more flushed and excited than any 30-something woman in her right mind should ever allow a room full of teenage girls to see her. “He loved her for years and wrote a lot…

‘The Second Coming’ by WB Yeats is a tricky one. Despite being one of his weirder, more esoteric works, it remains a staple of his celebrated poems. But if you back an English teacher into the corner even they might have trouble telling you…

As his 150th anniversary comes around, many eyes have turned to re-examining the work of the great Irish poet W. B. Yeats. But in many ways a key area of his life has been overlooked: magic. Yeats’ interest in the supernatural and the…

A wild mix of political and love poetry to remind us why it's so important to vote YES! on May 22nd for Marriage Equality. 1. Until We Could by Richard Blanco is an ode to Marriage Equality, this poem is unstoppable. From page to video -…

What Should I Read Next? Random House have come up with a fantastic way to encourage reluctant readers out there by creating downloadable posters for young people who finish a book but don’t quite know what to pick up next. …