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gained independence from Britain, in 1922 he was appointed to the Senate of the new Free State. It is claimed by some critics that in his later years, Yeats was somewhat drawn towards some of the elements of fascism, notably its often mystical nationalism and inherent elitism; however he never became involved in the movement as such.

At the time Yeats was born, in 1865, Ireland had little tradition of imaginative literature written in English. As T.S. Eliot said of his own attempts to write verse drama, Yeats had nobody, we had Yeats'. Therefore, as best he could, Yeats attempted to discipline his imagination, to cultivate a detachment from the normal world, or as Daniel Albright wrote, to smooth and empty his mind until it could flame with images from the world beyond our own'. Yeats wrote hundreds of poems and twenty six plays over the course of his life and a great deal of these works have always been associated closely with Sligo county and its culture and landscape. This influence is evident throughout his career, providing a wealth of imagery, myth and folklore to his works which conjure images and references to Sligo and the surrounding region. Therefore, according to Maurice Harmon, for a young poet in the 1920s and 1930s, the question was, how not to write like Yeats and how to find areas not already dominated, or exhausted, by him'.

As noted, Yeats believed he was a visionary, thus he incorporated many of his visions and dreams into his poems and other works. Some were indirectly mentioned while others were more direct, such as in his poem, The Song of the Wandering Aengus', where he wrote, When I had laid it on the floor/I went to blow the fire aflame/But something rustled on the floor,/And someone called me by my name:/It had become a glimmering girl/With apple blossom in her hair/Who called me by my name and ran/And faded through the brightening air.' According to Yeats there are two types of visions, one is when he himself wants to engage in a vision, and therefore he calls upon one, in this instance he noted that he often left special flowers at his bedside to encourage such visions. The second is when he is called or enchanted by a vision or dream without his consent or control. He stated that there were different kinds of visions, some he said come from history, and others speak about the life after death, while others reveal the images of fairies and myths. Yeats combined all these visions and knowledge with his own experiences and poetic genius

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