William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was an instrumental figure in the "Irish Literary Revival" of the 20th Century that redefined Irish writing. His father's love of reading aloud exposed Yeats early on to William Shakespeare, the Romantic poets and the pre-Raphaelites, and developed an interest in Irish myths and folklore. He was a complex man, who struggled between beliefs in the strange and supernatural, and scorn for modern science. He was intrigued by the idea of mysticism, yet had little regard for Christianity. He spent much of his life seeking out a philosophical system to resolve the conflict he felt between his nature and life. "The Shadowy Waters" was a play that Yeats began writing as a boy, possibly as early as 1885, and spent years reshaping and revising until its final acting version in 1906, which was performed at the Abbey Theatre.