W. B. Yeats: A Life and Times Readers should be alerted to the fact that there are some disparities of dates between the chronologies of Yeats's life in some of the books listed in the Guide to Further Reading. 1858 Irish Republican Brotherhood founded. 1865 13 June, William Butler Yeats born at Georgeville, Sandymount Avenue, in Dublin, son of John Butler Yeats and Susan Yeats (nee Pollexfen). 1867 Family moves to London (23 Fitzroy Road, Regent's Park), so that father can follow a career as a portrait painter. Brothers Robert and Jack and sister Elizabeth born here. The Fenian Rising and execution of the 'Manchester Martyrs'. 1872 Yeats spends an extended holiday with maternal grandparents at Sligo in West of Ireland. 1873 Founding of the Home Rule League. 1874 Family moves to 14 Edith Villas, West Kensington. 1876 Family moves to 8 Woodstock Road, Bedford Park, Chiswick. 1877--80 Yeats attends Godolphin School, Hammersmith, London. Holidays in Sligo. 1877 Charles Stewart Parnell chairman of the Home Rule League. 1879 Irish Land League founded by Parnell and Michael Davitt. 188~1 A decline in J. B. Yeats's income because of the Irish Land War sends the family back to Ireland (Balscadden Cottage, Howth, County Dublin), while he remains in London. 159 160 W. B. Yeats: A Critical Introduction 1881-3 Yeats attends Erasmus Smith High School, Harcourt St, Dublin 1882 Family moves to Island View, Howth. Yeats spends holidays with uncle George Pollexfen, Sligo. Writes first poems. Adolescent passion for his cousin Laura Armstrong. Phoenix Park Murders. Land League suppressed. 1884 Refuses to go to Trinity College, Dublin. Attends instead the Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin. Family moves to Ashfield Terrace, Harold's Cross Road, Dublin. 1885 Two poems in Dublin University Review, March. Helps to fund Dublin Hermetic Society. Befriends Katherine Tynan and John O'Leary, the nationalist leader. 1886 Abandons art studies. Essays and reviews in Irish literary magazines. First seance. Begins to read Irish poets and Gaelic sagas. Parnell allies with Gladstone on Home Rule Bill. Riots in Belfast. Bill defeated in Parliament. 1887 Family returns to London (58 Eardley Crescent, Earl's Court). Mother suffers two strokes. Yeats joins the Blavatsky Lodge of the London Theosophical Society. Visits William Morris. First poems in English maga­ zines. Becomes literary correspondent for American newspapers, Providence Sunday Journal and Boston Pilot. Works in Bodleian Library, Oxford. 1888 Family moves to 3 Blenheim Terrace, Bedford Park, London. Last of the family land in Ireland sold under the terms of the Ashbourne Land Act. Meets Oscar Wilde, G. B. Shaw, W. E. Henley. Edits Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry. 1889 The Wanderings of Oisin, and Other Poems. Suffers a nervous collapse. Begins study of Blake's Prophetic Books. Meets and falls in love with Maud Gonne. 1890 Initiated into Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Asked to leave Theosophists. Meets Florence Parr. Parnell's divorce case. 1891 Novel, John Sherman and Dhoya. Representative Irish Tales. Founding member of the Rhymers' Club and the London Irish Literary Society. Proposes marriage W. B. Yeats: A Life and Times 161 to Maud Gonne. Parnell dies and Gonne accompanies his body back from France. Yeats writes poem on Parnell. Founds National Literary Society in Dublin with O'Leary as president. 1892 The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics. Irish Fairy Tales. 1893 The Celtic Twilight. Edits, with Edwin J. Ellis, The Works ofWm Blake. Second Home Rule Bill defeated in House of Lords. Gaelic League founded. Oscar Wilde arrested and gaoled for homosexuality. 1894 The Land of Heart's Desire. Visits Paris, where he sees Axel performed; stays with MacGregor Mathers, and proposes to Maud Gonne. Meets Olivia Shakespear ('Diana Vernon') through her cousin Lionel Johnson. Revises early poetry for first collected volume. 1895 First collected Poems. Edits A Book of Irish Verse. Shares rooms with Arthur Symons, in the Temple, London. 1896 Moves to 18 Woburn Buildings; affair with 'Diana Vernon'. Meets Lady Gregory. Tours west of Ireland with Symons, visiting Aran Islands. Visits Paris with Symons to found an order of Celtic Mysteries and meets John Synge. Attends a performance of Jarry's Ubu Roi. Joins the Irish Republican Brotherhood and works to unite the various Irish political factions. 1897 The Adoration of the Magi. The Secret Rose. Spends summer at Coole Park. Collects folklore there. Jubilee Riots in Dublin. 1898 With Maud Gonne tours Irish communities in England and Scotland, and enters into a 'spiritual marriage' with her. Conceives idea of an Irish Literary Theatre with Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn. 1899 The Wind Among the Reeds wins the Academy prize as the year's best poetry book. Again proposes marriage unsuccessfully to Maud Gonne in Paris. The Countess Cathleen performed in Dublin as part of a programme for Irish Literary Theatre. Boer War leads to wave of British jingoism. The United Irishman newspaper founded by Arthur Griffith, supports the Boers. Yeats, Maud Gonne and Edward 162 W. B. Yeats: A Critical Introduction Martyn join him on the pro-Boer Transvaal Committee. John MacBride, Maud Gonne's future husband, fights on the side of the Boers. 1900 Yeats's mother dies. Further unsuccessful proposal to Maud Gonne. Head of London branch of the Order of the Golden Dawn. Leaves IRB. 1901 Further proposal to Maud Gonne. Cumann na nGaedhael begun by Griffith. Queen Victoria dies. Edward VII ascends throne. 1902 Family returns to Dublin. Sister Elizabeth starts Dun Emer Press (later Cuala Press). Meets James Joyce. President of newly founded Irish National Theatre Society. Diarmuid and Crania written with George Moore. Cathleen ni Houlihan performed in Dublin, with Maud Gonne in the title role. Boer war ends in British defeat. 1903 In the Seven Woods. Ideas of Good and Evil. In February, Maud marries Major John MacBride. Three of Yeats's plays performed by the Irish National Dramatic Society in London. Financially successful lecture tour of USA. The Wyndham Land Act. 1904 The King's Threshold. On Christmas Eve the first per­ formance at the Abbey Theatre, with Yeats as producer-manager, includes On Baile's Strand. 1905 The Shadowy Waters produced in London. Stories of Red Hanrahan. Sinn Fein founded by Arthur Griffith. 1906 Poems 1899-1905. Becomes director of Abbey Theatre, with Lady Gregory and Synge. Deirdre performed, 26 November. 1907 'The Playboy Riots' at the Abbey over Synge's The Playboy of the Western World. Yeats defends him. Father leaves for New York. Yeats tours Italian Renaissance cities with Lady Gregory and her son Robert. 1908 Collected Works (eight volumes)- complete revision of early work. Meets Ezra Pound. Visits Maud Gonne in Paris. 1909 Synge dies. Yeats edits Synge's Poems and Translations. 1910 The Green Helmet and Other Poems. Awarded Civil List pension of £150, but imposes condition that he is not prevented from campaigning for Irish nationalism. W. B. Yeats: A Life and Times 163 Resigns theatre management. Crisis in affair with Mabel Dickinson. 1911 Plays for an Irish Theatre. Meets Miss Georgie Hyde­ Lees, whom he is later to marry, through Olivia Shakespear. Visits Paris with Lady Gregory. 1912 Visits USA with Abbey Theatre Company. Lectures at Harvard University on 'The Theatre of Beauty'. Meets Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet and mystic. The Cutting of An Agate. Stays with Maud Gonne in Normandy. Irish Labour Party founded by James Connolly and James Larkin. 1913 Poems Written in Discouragement. In the autumn lives with Pound, at Stone Cottage in Sussex, editing Fenollosa's translation of Japanese Noh plays. Irish Volunteers founded. Dublin lock-out and strike, in which Maud Gonne works for Connolly and Larkin. 1914 Responsibilities: Poems and a Play. Finishes Reveries, the first part of Autobiographies. Lecture tour of USA. Third Home Rule Bill passes through all its stages but deferred at last minute by outbreak of the Great War on4 August. 1915 Spends winter of 1914-15 with Pound at Stone Cottage. Refuses knighthood. Death of Hugh Lane in the sinking of Lusitania leads to dispute over Lane's bequest of paintings to Dublin city. 1916 Again spends winter with Pound at Stone Cottage. At the Hawk's Well performed in London. Easter Uprising. Execution of fifteen leaders, including Connolly, Pearse and John MacBride. Yeats again proposes marriage to Maud Gonne. Sir Roger Case­ ment hanged for treason. 1917 The Wild Swans at Coole. Buys Norman Tower at Ballylee, near Coole. Proposes marriage (unsuc­ cessfully) to Iseult Gonne, Maud's daughter. 20 October, marries Georgie Hyde-Lees. Her automatic writing begins. 1918 Per Arnica Silentia Lunae. The Only Jealousy of Emer. Divides time between Oxford, Glendalough and Sligo. Stays at Coole to supervise restoration of tower, then 164 W. B. Yeats: A Critical Introduction at Maud Gonne's in Dublin. Major Robert Gregory dies on active service. 11 November, war ends. 1918-21 'The Troubles', period of brutal suppression by the British, carried out by the Black and Tans. 1919 26 February, birth of daughter Anne Butler Yeats. Family moves to Ballylee. First meeting of Dail Eireann, the provisional Irish government, not recognised by the British authorities. 1920 American lecture tour; then Oxford. 1921 Michael Robartes and the Dancer. Four Plays for Dancers. The family lives at Shillingford, Berkshire, and in August moves to Thame, Oxford. 22 August, a son, William Michael, born. 6 December, Anglo-Irish Treaty creates the Irish Free State, with the six Protestant counties of Ulster opting out. 1922-3 The Irish Civil War, during which Yeats supports the pro-Treaty government, under Griffith and then Cosgrave, and opposes the intransigents under de Valera.