# Questions about WB Yeats in London **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2022, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-wb-yeats-in-london/968142 "2022-07-18T13:03:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-wb-yeats-in-london/968142/1 "2022-07-18T13:03:38Z")
Yeats appears to have lived in London as a child from 1867 and moved back to Ireland (Sligo?) 1880. But he wrote Lake Isle of Innisfree in London in 1888. Was he living at Fitzroy Road, Primrose Hill, London, NW1 8TP, (London Borough of Camden) at the time? How did he earn a living ? How long did he live in London before moving back to Irelsnd ? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-wb-yeats-in-london/968142/2 "2022-07-18T14:30:11Z")
He lived in Bedford Park between 1888 and 1902. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-wb-yeats-in-london/968142/3 "2022-07-18T14:58:07Z")
Thanks Elmer \_J.Fudd. So did he return to Ireland in 1902? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-wb-yeats-in-london/968142/4 "2022-07-18T15:42:19Z")
He started to get really involved in the Dublin theater scene around 1900, so I assume he spent most of his time there after his family gave up the house in Bedford. He was a bachelor until he was 52 so his residence was pretty fluid; splitting his time between London, Dublin, and later Paris. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-wb-yeats-in-london/968142/5 "2022-07-19T03:41:01Z")
Thanks Elmer\_J.Fudd. That clarifies things a lot. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-wb-yeats-in-london/968142/6 "2022-07-19T06:20:55Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > He lived in Bedford Park between 1888 and 1902. No. [Between 1895 and 1919 he had his own London flat in Woburn Walk in Bloomsbury](https://londonunveiled.com/2013/07/04/woburn-walk/). But during that period he also regularly travelled to Ireland, often spending the summers with Lady Gregory at Coole Park in Co. Galway. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-wb-yeats-in-london/968142/7 "2022-07-19T12:23:40Z")
Thanks APB. So during which years was he at Bedford Park to get the dates straight ? ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-wb-yeats-in-london/968142/8 "2022-07-19T12:30:37Z")
Besides his parents/family home in Bedford Park I guess he had his own flat. The Bedford home is often cited in conjunction with the launch of his career as a poet. Did he write The Lake Isle of innisfree at the Bedford home or in his Bloomsbury flat? Is it known? ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-wb-yeats-in-london/968142/9 "2022-07-19T14:36:17Z")
The family moved to 3 Blenheim Road in Bedford Park (which is nowhere near Bedford) in 1888. Yeats moved out in 1895, staying first with Arthur Symons in the Temple before moving into the Woburn Buildings flat. His parents and sisters remained at Blenheim Road, until his father moved back to Dublin in 1901, with the sisters following in 1902. _The Lake Isle of Innisfree_ was written in 1888 and first published in 1890, so is usually said to have been written at Blenheim Road. There is [the theory](https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/remembering-wb-yeats/) that it was inspired by [Chiswick Eyot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiswick_Eyot), but one suspects that’s just local wishful thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-wb-yeats-in-london/968142/10 "2022-07-19T14:52:17Z")
Thanks APB. That fills in a lot of the puzzle. I came across an interesting tid-bit about Maud Gonne moving into his Bloomsbury flat after he left it in 1917 “After Yeats left the Woburn Walk lodgings in 1917, the new resident was, of all people, Maud Gonne.” It seems he finally gave up the flat in 1919.