Yeats (W.B.) - pronunciation

From Hull AWE
Jump to: navigation, search

The surname of the great Irish poet W.B. Yeats (1865-1939), who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923), being of Celtic origin, is pronounced to rhyme with 'dates' /jeIts/. Do not confuse him with the great English poet Keats (q.v.) (The initials stand for William Butler: the 'Butler' was a family tradition, the poet's father having been John Butler Yeats and his brother the celebrated painter Jack Butler Yeats.)