Map of Sligo (Sligo Co. Library)
© Sligo County Library,Ordnance Survey 1885. Local History Collection No.982
© Sligo County Library,Ordnance Survey 1885. Local History Collection No.982
Map of Sligo (Sligo Co. Library)
© Sligo County Library,Ordnance Survey 1885. Local History Collection No.982
Yeats spent a lot of time in Sligo as a child on summer holidays. His mother was a native of the county and the young Yeats holidayed with his grand parents at Drumcliff regularly. As an adult Yeats frequently visited Sligo, drawing inspiration from its people and its landscape. He was friends with the Gore-Booth sisters of Lissadell house and wrote a tribute to them on their deaths in the late 1920's. In some of Yeats' most famous poems specific place names in Sligo are mentioned. For other poets of the day and in generations to follow, the locality of life, situations and places in Ireland became their inspiration. To this day, places mentioned in Yeats poetry are visited by readers and tourist industry has sprung from Yeats' great love of Sligo.