William Butler Yeats was born on June 13, 1865, in Dublin, Ireland. He was the oldest of four children of John Butler Yeats, a portrait artist.His father added to William's formal schooling with lessons at home that gave him an enduring taste for the classics. John Yeats had a forceful personality.illiam Butler Yeats Biography. Born: June 13, 1865 Dublin, Ireland Died: January 28, 1939 Roquebrune, France. Irish poet and dramatist. William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and dramatist (playwright). Some think he was the greatest poet of the twentieth century. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923.