 In 1938–41, he studied at the Yale School of Drama; he was admitted to the school by Allardyce Nicoll, an acquaintance of Auden, to whom Auden apparently recommended Yates for admission.At Yale, Yates began a lasting friendship with his fellow student, the poet and dramatist Owen Dodson, and introduced Dodson to Auden, initiating a lasting friendship between the two poets.During World War II, he served with the Royal Marines in Crete where he was taken prisoner by the Germans and sent to a prison camp until the end of the war.