William Butler Yeats

1 5.8

An Irish poet and playwright who wrote famous poems and plays and helped start the modern literary movement

proper noun

: William Butler Yeats

Many consider William Butler Yeats to be one of the greatest poets of the 20th century.

Examples

William Butler Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 for his inspiring poetry.
William Butler Yeats asks, "How but in custom and in ceremony/Are innocence and beauty born?"

Academic text (2001)
William Butler Yeats.

Fiction book (2002)
William Butler Yeats.

Fiction book (2002)
The works of William Butler Yeats deeply influenced modern Irish literature and theater.

Synonyms

Yeats

vsWilliam Butler Yeats

Literature

10 6.2

An Irish poet and playwright who helped shape modern English poetry

emphasizes the person's role founding a specific national literary revival

W. B. Yeats

vsWilliam Butler Yeats

Literature

1 6.3

An Irish poet and writer of plays who helped revive Irish literature in the early 1900s

is the same but also highlights founding role in a national literary revival

Surface Forms

William Butler Yeats main

Morphology

William + Butler + Yeats

This is a personal name (proper noun) whose meaning is encyclopedic rather than compositional: knowing the words 'William', 'Butler', or 'Yeats' as lexical items does not allow a learner to infer that this refers to an Irish poet, dramatist, and historical figure. Personal names function as arbitrary labels, so the referent and biographical details require world knowledge or prior exposure rather than derivation from the constituents.

Etymology

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and writer of plays who loved old Irish myths and dream-like images and used them in his work. Because he helped bring Irish stories to the stage and to readers around the world, his name is remembered as 'a leading Irish writer' of the early 20th century.