William Butler Yeats was born in 1865. At the time In the Seven Woods was published in 1903, W. B. Yeats was 38 years old. This volume is the first in his transitional phase of writing which lasted from 1903 to 1914. Yeats' early phase of writing came before this. A notable difference between these phases is what he chose to write about. In his early works he wrote many poems about Irish myths and peasant culture. He also used more flowery and aesthetic language in his early phase.

 

 In The Seven Woods was largely written at Coole Park which was Augusta Gregory's estate. Augusta Gregory was a wealthy aristocrat who allowed Yeats to write at her estate which was near the actual seven woods that Yeats named this volume after. 

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This volume of poetry is largely influenced by the people in Yeats' life at the time such as Augusta Gregory. Additionally, Yeats was wrestling with the concepts of female beauty and of masculinity in this volume due to the object of his desire, Maud Gonne, revealing that she was having an affair. The two were never in a relationship, but this news still affected Yeats and this volume. Maud Gonne was his idea of the ideal woman, and the fact that she did not want him is an experiences that Yeats dealt with while writing In The Seven Woods. This influenced both the content and diction in this volume. 

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