William Butler Yeats

W.B. Yeats

Yeats was a crucial proponent of the Irish Renaissance and was friend to members of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Among these was Maud Gonne, an English-born Irish revolutionary, suffragette and actress. She actively agitated for Home Rule and then for the republic declared in 1916. The story of Yeats’ enduring and unrequited love for Maud Gonne against the background of the Easter uprising is a romance for the ages. 

Thoor Ballylee Castle (Túr Bhaile Uí Laí) is 15th century Anglo-Norman tower house built near Gort in County Galway that was once purchased and inhabited by William Butler Yeats. It has been described as ‘the most important public building in Ireland’ by late Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney. It was flooded out in 2015, but Thoor Ballylee is open once again, every day from 11am to 5 pm. Tower Admission €7: “Cups of tea, tour, and hearty welcome all included.” A wall tablet adds Yeats' imprint on the ancient tower:

I, the poet William Yeats,

With old mill boards and sea-green slates,

And smithy work from the Gort forge,

Restored this tower for my wife George.

And may these characters remain

When all is ruin once again