His plays usually treat Irish legends they also reflect his fascination with mysticism and spiritualism. Together with Lady Gregory he founded the Irish Theatre, which was to become the Abbey Theatre, and served as its chief playwright until the movement was joined by John Synge. His first volume of verse appeared in 1887, but in his earlier period his dramatic production outweighed his poetry both in bulk and in import. The young Yeats was very much part of the fin de siècle in London at the same time he was active in societies that attempted an Irish literary revival. Yeats was educated in London and in Dublin, but he spent his summers in the west of Ireland in the family's summer house at Connaught.

His father was a lawyer and a well-known portrait painter. Afghanistan, Africa, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Anguilla, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan Republic, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Central America and Caribbean, Chad, Comoros, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Fiji, Finland, French Polynesia, Gambia, Georgia, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Guam, Guernsey, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mayotte, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nauru, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niue, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Croatia, Republic of Cuba, Reunion, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South America, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (U.S.William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was born in Dublin.

Irish Fairy and Folk Tales by Various