Yeats' Easter poem sold at auction for $11,400
Last Updated: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 | 5:49 PM ET
CBC News
An original copy of William Butler Yeats' Easter 1916, one of his most political poems, was sold Wednesday in Dublin for $11,400.
The first-edition poem, one of three known copies to exist worldwide, was sold to an anonymous bidder at Adam's auctioneers for about double its expected price. The other two known copies are in the National Library in Dublin and the British Library in London.
Yeats was an Irish poet and an important figure in modern literature. He won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1923 for what the Nobel Foundation described as his "always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation."
The copy is one of 25 published by an English journalist. At the time, Yeats feared a wider publication might cause violence.
Easter 1916 received special attention since it is an important piece for both those interested in Yeats and Ireland's struggle for independence.
He wrote the poem about the Easter rebellion of 1916, when guerrillas seized key Dublin government buildings. The buildings were held for one week before the rebels surrendered to British forces and were executed.
The poem reflects Yeats' feelings about political violence and predicted the turmoil that would come.
Ireland eventually secured independence from Britain in 1922.
With files from the Associated Press
