W. B. YEATS, DEATH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 24, 30 January 1939, Page 7

W. B. YEATS , DEATH.

Passing of Famous Irish Poet And Dramatist.

THE CELTIC REVIVAL (Received 11.30 a.m.) LOXDOX, January 29. The death has occurred of Mr. W. B. Yeats, famous Irish poet and dramatist, ajred 74. Yeats, whoee father w»e an artist, studied painting for a time, but soon <rave it up for literature, contributing to Irish periodicals. In 1888 he was advised by Oscar Wilde to try his fortune in London, where, in 1889, he issued his. first book of poeme, "The Wanderings of Oisin," which awakened new interest in the Celtic revival.

In his works, the genius of which, was recognised by experts, he expressed the fairy lore and lingering old-world beliefs of the Irish countryside. Eaeaya and sketches and two Irish stories, "John Sharman" and "Dhoya," were followed by his collected poems, the appearance of 'which in 1895 wae recognised as marking the rise of a. new Irish echool.

His best-known poem is the beautiful "Lake Isle of Innisfree," while the volume, "The Wind Among the Reeds," holds some of his finest poems. Hi* later verse became ascetic and intellectual, in strange contrast with Uβ early lyrics. It was to Yeats that the new Irish drama owed its initiation, and his wme the first suggestion from which grow the Irish Literary Theatre. The poet was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, and later he received the honour of the Goethe Plaque of the city of Frankfurt.