Yeats treasures to go on display
Priceless family treasures belonging to William Butler Yeats will be handed over to the National Library of Ireland today for a landmark exhibition on the Nobel prize-winning poet.
The precious hoard includes copies of poems, portraits of Yeats’ wife George and a ceremonial Japanese sword given to Yeats during a US lecture tour in 1920.
The material will today be given to the library on temporary loan by Yeats’ only son, Michael, who lives in Dalkey Co Dublin.
They will be put on display for the ’Yeats: the Life and Works of William Butler Yeats’ exhibition in late May.
“This will be the first major exhibition developed by the National Library on the great poet and we are indebted to the Yeats family for their support,” said National Library director, Aongus O hAonghusa.
The artefacts feature an illuminated copy of the Lake Isle of Innisfree, printed by Yeats’ sister Elizabeth and portraits of Yeats’ wife, George by artists Edmund Dulac and John Butler Yeats.
The Yeats manuscript collection at the National Library is one of the largest literary archives in the English speaking world.
It comprises 3,000 volumes owned and used by Yeats in his lifetime, and an additional 350 titles by and about him, published after his death.
The forthcoming exhibition will also use digital media including electronic ’turning the page’ technology and multimedia to convey the interest and excitement of Yeats’ life and of his creative process.
Born in 1865, Yeats was a leading figure in the Irish Literary Revival and a founder of the Abbey Theatre.
He published almost 400 poems and 26 plays as well as volumes of memoirs, essays, ideas, introductions and reviews.
He was appointed to the Senate in the early years of the Free State.
He was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1923 and later died in France in 1939.
