Bones Of Yeats Or French Pauper? (Press, 1 November 1988)

The story surrounding the grave of renowned Irish poet W. B. Yeats has taken a bizarre turn, as a new biography suggests that his coffin may contain the remains of French paupers instead of the poet himself. This theory arises from the account of painter Hanna Gluck, as recounted in the biography by English writer Diana Souhami, which cites previously unpublished letters. In June 1948, Gluck visited Yeats's grave in Roquebrune, France, and claimed that Yeats had been mistakenly buried in a pauper's grave instead of the one requested by his wife, Mrs George Yeats, which was intended for a 10-year tenure. According to Gluck, multiple bodies were added to the pauper's grave, and the remains were eventually transferred to a common ossuary, leading her to suggest it could be impossible to reconstruct Yeats's remains if he were indeed initially buried there. This prompted speculation about the identity of the remains at his final resting place in Drumcliff, County Sligo, where Yeats was later interred in 1948. Yeats’s family vehemently denied these claims, with his son, Michael, asserting that the allegations were "the greatest nonsense" and accusing the publishers of exploiting Yeats’s legacy for publicity. Together with his sister Anne, they released a detailed statement clarifying the circumstances surrounding their father's exhumation. They confirmed that Mrs Yeats had communicated her intent to repatriate her husband's remains to Ireland, and they were involved in lengthy negotiations with shipping companies that caused delays in exhumation until after World War II. The family asserted that Mrs Yeats, a capable woman fluent in French, arranged for a 10-year lease on a grave plot in France. Upon discovering that the body was moved, she promptly contacted the French authorities, which resulted in Yeats’s exhumation in March 1948. They emphasised that the exhumation was conducted with utmost care and oversight, involving the local mayor, police officials, and medical experts to ensure the identity of the remains. Michael and Anne were determined to confirm that they had indeed buried the correct body, dispelling any theories regarding the remains of another individual being present in Yeats's grave. Yeats, who was born in Dublin in 1865 and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, had specifically requested to be buried in Drumcliff, a location intertwined with his familial history. He expressed this preference in a poem completed on the brink of his death, which includes an epitaph reflective of his contemplations on life and mortality. As a prominent figure in Irish literature and politics, Yeats's resting place continues to attract admiration and veneration, making the recent claims particularly troubling for his family and his legacy.

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