W. B. Yeats is widely regarded as the greatest English-language poet of the twentieth century. This new critical biography seeks to tell the story of his life as it unfolded in the various contexts in which Yeats worked as an artist and as public figure.

Terence Brown is Professor of Anglo-Irish literature in Trinity College, Dublin and a Fellow of the College. He is also a member of the Royal Irish Academy and of the Academia Europaea, and has lectured widely on Irish literature and on Irish cultural history. Among his books are studies of Louis MacNeice and of Northern Irish poetry. His numerous publications include Ireland: A Social and Cultural History (1985) and Ireland's Literature: Selected Essays (1988). He is also editor of Derek Mahon: Journalism (1996) and Celticism (1996), and was formerly a contributing editor of the Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing.