William Butler Years was born 150 years ago today in Sandymount, Dublin. Yeats was to become an internationally recognised Irish poet, playwright, author and one of the most influential figures of 20th century literature. Throughout his life he suffered illnesses including fever, pneumonia and a broken heart from his unrequited love of Maud Gonne. W.B. Yeats and Oliver St. John Gogarty in Dublin in 1924 taken from The New York Times March 1964 Yeats and Oliver St. John Gogarty were close friends despite their age difference. They wrote to each other, attended various literary and political gatherings across the globe and sat in the Senate together. Gogarty was not only interested in literature he was a highly qualified surgeon. When Yeats fell ill at the end of 1929 his fever charts were passed to Gogarty, who confirmed the seriousness of Yeats illness. These fever charts were donated to the RCSI Heritage Collections by Prof. J.B. Lyons many years ago and can be seen below ...