W.B. Yeats Sculpture - St Stephens Green

William Butler Yeats is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. The bronze statue is the work of sculptor Henry Moore an English Artist. Yeats was born in Sandymount, Dublin, grew up in Sligo and was educated there and in London. Yeats was raised a member of the Protestant Ascendancy, which was at the time undergoing a crisis of identity. While his family was broadly supportive of the changes Ireland was experiencing, the nationalist revival of the late 19th century. Yeats was an Irish Nationalist and was appointed as a Senator in the Irish Free State. Yeats was also a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, however distanced himself from the Easter Rising. Yeats began writing his first works when he was seventeen and, in 1885, the Dublin University Review published Yeats's first poems. Along With Lady Gregory, Synge and other artists Yeats set purchased the building that was to become the Abbey Theatre. On 27 December 1904 opened the Abbey Theatre. Yeats's play Cathleen ni Houlihan and Lady Gregory's Spreading the News were featured on the opening night. Yeats remained involved with the Abbey until his death, both as a member of the board and a prolific playwright. In 1902, he helped set up the Dun Emer Press to publish work by Irish writers. From then until its closure in 1946, the press—which was run by the poet's sisters—produced over 70 titles; 48 of them books by Yeats himself. In December 1923, Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was bestowed this honor "for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation". Yeats regarded this award as more than a personal award for him, but an award to be shared by Irish Literature. He believed it was a welcome message from the people of Europe to the new Irish Free State. Yeats died at the Hôtel Idéal Séjour, in Menton, France, on 28 January 1939, aged 73. He was buried after a discreet and private funeral at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. Yeats wanted to be buried in France for a short period until he could be transferred back to Sligo. His instructions were 'If I die, bury me up there and then in a year's time when the newspapers have forgotten me, dig me up and plant me in Sligo'." Yeats' body was exhumed in 1946 and the remains were moved to on ossuary and mixed with other remains. In September 1948, Yeats's body was moved to the churchyard of St Columba's Church, Drumcliff, County Sligo, on the Irish Naval Service corvette LÉ Macha. His repatriation was paid for by the French Foreign Ministry