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All Ireland Sligo Grave of W. B. Yeats

Grave of W. B. Yeats

This cemetery overlooking the Benbulben rock formation is the final resting place of one of Ireland's most beloved poets.

Sligo, Ireland

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  Robin Pollard / CC BY 3.0
Gravestone of W.B. Yeats   Falcata / Atlas Obscura User
The cemetery, with Benbulben rising in the background   Falcata / Atlas Obscura User
View of Benbulben from the edge of the churchyard   Falcata / Atlas Obscura User
Drumcliffe Church   Michael Clarke Stuff / CC BY-SA 2.0
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Statue of Yeats, Sligo   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
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About

In the churchyard of St. Columba's Church, a few miles north of Sligo town, one of Ireland's most celebrated poets lies under a remarkably plain gravestone bearing his name, birth and death dates, and the last three lines of one of his poems.

William Butler Yeats laid out the plans for his final resting place the best way he knew how—through poetry. The final verse of "Under Ben Bulben" details the way the famous Irish poet wished to spend the rest of eternity:

"Under bare Ben Bulben's head / In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid, / An ancestor was rector there / Long years ago; a church stands near, / By the road an ancient Cross. / No marble, no conventional phrase, / On limestone quarried near the spot / By his command these words are cut: / Cast a cold eye / On life, on death. / Horseman, pass by!"

Yeats got his wish, sort of. He died in 1939 at age 73, in Menton, France. According to his wife Georgie, his plan was to be buried in France and then (in his own words) "in a year's time, when the newspapers have forgotten me, dig me up and plant me in Sligo."

But the reinterment was not a smooth process, nor was it completed in a year. (Possibly due to the outbreak of World War II only a few months later.) After the end of the war, French authorities exhumed the body and, unfortunately, mixed it with other remains in an ossuary. Because of this, a French forensic doctor only managed to piece a skeleton back together "presenting all the characteristics of the deceased." 

What was left of him was finally reinterred in his beloved Sligo in 1948, nine years after his death. As mentioned in the poem, the cemetery at St. Columba's overlooks the Benbulben rock formation.

Related Tags

Graveyards Gravestones Cemeteries Poetry Catacombs And Crypts Writers Graves

Know Before You Go

The churchyard is a few kilometers north of Sligo right off N15. There is no cost to view the grave or enter the church, but donations are always welcome. There is a lovely view of Benbulben and the surrounding area, known affectionately as Yeats Country. Next to the churchyard, there is a tea room, a small store, and bathrooms.

Yeats' grave is fairly easy to spot amongst the headstone. Head left of the church. The tombstone, a modern large grey slab, will be facing you on the southern side of the churchyard. 

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Falcata

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SEANETTA, Archimedes, Michelle Cassidy, Missional Living Keith...

  • SEANETTA
  • Archimedes
  • Michelle Cassidy
  • Missional Living Keith
  • coljay72

Published

December 23, 2019

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Sources
  • https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/wb-yeats-at-150/documents
  • R.F. Foster, W. B. Yeats: A Life, Volume II: The Arch-Poet 1915-1939
  • https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43298/under-ben-bulben
  • https://historicgraves.com/graveyard/st-columba-s-church-ireland-drumcliffe/sl-dcci
Grave of W. B. Yeats
N15
Sligo
Ireland
54.326307, -8.493723
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Benbulben Barite Mine

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