David Benioff

Despite his dodgy politics, Yeats remains an inspiration for his genius and the simple fact that the older he got, the better he wrote. “The Circus Animals’ Desertion” and “Politics”, both written while he was in his seventies, are some of the most memorable poems in the language: Now that my ladder’s gone / I must lie down where all the ladders start / In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart. Top that, young bastards.