Four Years 18871891 Author:William Butler Yeats In 1923, Yeats was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature for what the Nobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation;" and he was the first Irishman so honored. Yeats is generally considered one of the few writers whose greatest works were completed after being awarde... more »d the Nobel Prize; such works include The Tower and The Winding Stair and Other Poems.« less