He was a stalwart of the Irish literary elite, helping to start the Abbey Theatre and subsequently serving two terms as Senator of the Irish Free State. His work is marked by its emphasis on poetry as a vehicle for emotional expression and on the beauty of Ireland. Butler was born in Lismore, County Waterford, into a wealthy landowning family. His father was Richard Butler, a wealthy local farmer and businessman. His mother's name was Mary Jane née East. She was from an old Dublin Catholic family that had fallen on hard times; her parents were farmers who owned land near Balbriggan, Dublin. Her brother was the artist James Mahon East. Her sister married the architect Thomas Francis Meade. Mary Jane died when William was only eight years old. He was raised by his uncle, John Butler, in Dublin until he was 16. He then moved to London to study at St Paul's School. Here he met other young poets including Oscar Wilde, Arthur Symons, and Henry Taylor. Butler returned to Ireland in 1885 and worked as an editor for the Oxford Magazine before starting his own journal, the Bell. In 1890 he married Susan Bergen. The couple had three children: George, Margaret, and Catherine.