A major exhibition on the life and works of William Butler Yeats due to open later this year is being boosted by the inclusion of a priceless collection of artefacts on loan from his family.
The statue of Yeats in Sligo
Michael Yeats 984), the Nobel prize-winner's only son, today handed over the treasures, which include hand-written poems and a ceremonial Japanese sword given to his father during a US lecture tour in 1920.
Also among the hoard are an illuminated copy of the Lake Isle of Innisfree, printed by Yeats' sister Elizabeth and portraits of Yeats' wife, George by artists Edmund Dulac and John Butler Yeats.
Michael Yeats said this evening the exhibition personalised his father. "He would be delighted to see this recognition, he was always anxious that the public as a whole should accept him and not just a few people who might be interested in poetry. He would be delighted to see an exhibition of this kind taking place, I don't have any doubt about that," Mr Yeats said.
"I think after (all) he was born 140 years ago and to many people he seems to be a rather remote historical figure, I think as a result of this exhibition it will personalise him, it will show he was also a human person, quite different from the poet in an ivory tower that people think of," he said.
"It will help people to get an idea of what he was like as an individual, and of course also the huge amounts of manuscripts that will for the first time be available for people to look at. Until now it has only been scholars and experts on Yeats who come and look at individual manuscripts."
Mr Yeats said he believed many people would travel from abroad, including Japan, New York and Australia, where there is strong interest in the poet, to see the exhibition.
The 'Yeats: the Life and Works of William Butler Yeats' exhibition is being held in the National Library in Dublin from May.
"This will be the first major exhibition developed by the National Library on the great poet and we are indebted to the Yeats family for their support," said National Library director, Aongus Ó hAonghusa.
The Yeats manuscript collection at the National Library is one of the largest literary archives in the English speaking world. It comprises 3,000 volumes owned and used by Yeats in his lifetime, and an additional 350 titles by and about him, published after his death.
Born in 1865, Yeats was a leading figure in the Irish Literary Revival and a founder of the Abbey Theatre. He published almost 400 poems and 26 plays as well as volumes of memoirs, essays, ideas, introductions and reviews.
He was appointed to the Irish Senate in the early years of the Free State. He was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1923 and later died in France in 1939.