W. B. Yeats: Wordsmith and Political Actor

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Language and Literature Studies Vol. 5; no. 3; p. 79
• Main Author: Wakefield, Mark J R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Waterloo MATIS Translation Services 2025
• Subjects: Actors; Cultural factors; Culture; Nationalism; Poetry; Politics; Power; Public life; Writing
• ISSN: 2564-2979; 2564-2979
• DOI: 10.53103/cjlls.v5i3.218

Yeats wrote powerful poetry and was renowned for his skills as a writer. This paper looks at his writing through the lens of political culture and how it influenced and shaped his writing. A variety of sources are examined in the composition of this text which aims to inform interested readers on Yeats’ motivations, influences and concern for the cultural and political development of the Irish nation until his retirement from public life and into his retirement. This text is particularly concerned with Yeats’ belief in the power of the political system to bring about real change but he retained his faith in the power of literature to inspire these developments. In this, however, he was realistic and recognised how poorly key figures like Parnell and leaders of the 1916 Rising were treated and how these events reverberated within public life in Ireland in the decades that followed.