The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL, June thirteenth. "Arise and go now, and go to Innesfree."

William Butler Yeats, arguably the most influential English language poet of the 20th-century, was born on this day in 1865. Though he lived much of his life in London, Yeats developed an early and profound attachment to County Sligo on Ireland's Atlantic Coast, 100 miles northwest of Dublin.

Yeats' grandfather was rector of the small Protestant church in the village of Drumcliffe on Sligo Bay, at the base of the beetle-browed mountain known as Benbulben. Young Yeats spent summers wandering local hills and dales with his brother Jack, the painter, who was born in Sligo. The sparse, pastoral landscape imprinted itself on the young poet's psyche and came to represent the purity of nature, a constant and defining element of Yeats' work. Although his career took him far afield, Yeats returned to Sligo often. Ten years after his death, he was re- buried in the graveyard of his grandfather's church.

County Sligo still has much to offer literary travelers who want to know the roots of the poet. The long sweep of sea and landscape from Benbulben's head is as inspirational as ever. Drumcliffe is surprisingly undisturbed by time and fame, as are other Yeats locations, like the Manor House, Lissadell, Parke Castle on beautiful Loch Gill and Innesfree, a tiny island on a reed-filled lake. Then there's the Yeats Museum in the town of Sligo.

But, more than real estate and artifacts, County Sligo's quixotic denizens are its real attraction. Their infectious warmth still captures a visitor's heart, as it did long ago to the young poet Yeats.

For information on County Sligo, contact the Irish Tourist Board at 800-223-6470 or www.northwestireland.travel.ie/sligo

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