MY GRANDFATHER

                                                 W.B. Yeats

W.B Yeats was a famous Irish poet, playwright and

statesman who made a tremendous
contribution in the revival of Irish Literature. He was also
awarded with Nobel Prize for
literature in 1923. My Grandfather”, is an extract from his
autobiography “Reveries over
Childhood and Youth”. In this piece of literature Yeats
recollects his memories of his
maternal grandfather, William Pollexfen.

The writer recollects numerous incidents of his childhood.

He remembers sitting upon his
grandfather s’ knee and looking out of the window. He
often remained sad in his childhood
and it was due to his loneliness and fear of his
grandfather.  Though his grandfather had
never been harsh and cruel to him yet it was a tradition to
be afraid of him and to respect
him. The writer often thought that he was wicked and
prayed for his death but when he
thought that he might die, he prayed for life.

The grandfather belonged to an old Cornish family and his

father was in army who became
the owner of some ships after his retirement. His mother
was a Vexford woman. The writer
grandfather was the only son of his parents; therefore, he
had no relations. . He was very
strong fellow and had great physical strength. .

 He had a reputation of never ordering anyone to do

anything which he himself could not do
. Once there was a problem in the rudder
of the ship. He asked the crew to go down to remove the
problem but no one was ready to go
into the water as it was very cold.

The grandfather himself dived into the water and

removed the problem. He was a man of hot temperament.
He always had a hatchet with
him in case of any thief or burglar. Instead of going to law,
he would knock a man down.