As the capital of the United Kingdom, London became the center of high society and a gathering space for artists. The Yeats family maintained a residence in London both when John Butler was the paternal figure and when the adult William Butler established his own household at 18 Woburn Buildings. In keeping with London society of the time, the Yeats home would have evenings when other societal and artistic figures would visit, dine, and engage in lively conversation and occasional argument. However, London would never feel like home to Yeats nor would it claim any space in his heart. In Yeats: The Man and the Masks, Richard Ellman writes that "London made his shyness worse....Yeats felt insignificant and out of place" (79). Terence Brown describes how "the city was remembered as an almost unbearable burden" to the Irish writer (55), perhaps because as the center of the British empire, Yeats found himself too "close to the heart of the monster" (23).  When in London, Yeats would often long to be back in Ireland,  as one can hear in his famous poem, "The Lake Isle of Inisfree," particularly in the Sligo area that so richly fed his imagination,

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Explore Yeats' London

This zoomable map shows important events in Yeats' life that happened in London.  Hover over dots for more information about events and locations.  The lighter the dot, the more events took place at that location.

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