Yeats' tower at Ballylea is a place Sylvia visits during a vacation in Ireland, and remembers as exceptionally beautiful and peaceful. Its importance in the account lies in the way that memory accompanies her return to London: while searching for a home, she recalls the tower and soon finds a flat in Yeats' former house, an unexpected discovery she takes as a sign.

The Visit and Its Impression

During her Irish vacation, Sylvia went to Yeats' tower at Ballylea. She later described it as the most beautiful and peaceful place in the world, an impression that remained vivid after she returned to London. The account does not describe the tower's physical appearance or the circumstances of the visit in further detail; its force comes instead from the emotional meaning Sylvia attached to it.

A Memory in the London Search

After Sylvia and Ted decided to separate for a while, she began commuting to London, looking for work with the BBC and searching for a flat. The summer had been difficult, and the prospect of another winter in Devon seemed impossible. As she walked desolately around Primrose Hill, frustrated by the difficulty of finding somewhere to live, the peaceful tower in Ireland formed a sharp contrast with her unsettled search.

From Tower to Home

On that London walk, Sylvia passed Yeats' former house, a place she had often seen and longed to live in. A board advertising flats for rent had appeared, and she hurried to the agent; she was the first to apply. She secured a five-year lease and called the flat heaven. The remembered tower and the London house are distinct places, but the association with Yeats links them in her account: a cherished Irish visit precedes the discovery of a home in London that she had already desired.

Meaning in Sylvia's Account

Sylvia treated finding the flat as a small miracle and a sign. She told a friend that she had known she would find it, and said that living in Yeats' house meant a great deal to her. The tower at Ballylea thus matters not as the setting of a developed episode, but as part of a chain of memory and expectation: its beauty and peace accompanied a period of personal upheaval, while the unexpected London opportunity gave that remembered attachment renewed significance.