Yeats grew up in County Sligo and London. In 1884, while studying art in Dublin,Yeats met the poet George Russell, and together they founded the Dublin Hermetic Society, dedicated to the study of magic and ritual. Simultaneous with the beginnings of his exploration of the occult,Yeats also embraced the cause of Celtic nationalism. England had banned Gaelic, attempting to absorb Ireland more completely into its empire, but Yeats envisioned an Irish literature with its roots in Irish history, mythology, and folklore.

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