W. B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939) was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival.
Yeats was an Irish nationalist. In the earlier part of his life, Yeats was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. However, he later distanced himself from Irish political activism until 1922, when he was appointed Senator for the Irish Free State.
In the 1930s, Yeats was fascinated with the fascist (broad sense) movements and he composed several marching songs for the right-wing Blueshirts, although they were never used. When the Blueshirt movement began to falter in Ireland, he distanced himself somewhat from his previous views, but maintained a preference for authoritarian and nationalist leadership.
