Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (''née'' Persse; 15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932) was an Irish
dramatist
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
,
folklorist
Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...
and theatre manager. With
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
and
Edward Martyn
Edward Martyn (30 January 1859 – 5 December 1923) was an Irish playwright and early republican political and cultural activist, as the first president of Sinn Féin from 1905–08.
Early life
Martyn was the elder son of John Martyn of Tullira ...
, she co-founded the
Irish Literary Theatre
W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn published a "Manifesto for Irish Literary Theatre" in 1897, in which they proclaimed their intention of establishing a national theatre for Ireland.
The Irish Literary Theatre was founded by Yeats, Lady ...
and the
Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the p ...
, and wrote numerous short works for both companies. Lady Gregory produced a number of books of retellings of stories taken from
Irish mythology
Irish mythology is the body of myths native to the island of Ireland. It was originally passed down orally in the prehistoric era, being part of ancient Celtic religion. Many myths were later written down in the early medieval era by C ...
. Born into a class that identified closely with British rule, she turned against it. Her conversion to cultural nationalism, as evidenced by her writings, was emblematic of many of the political struggles to occur in Ireland during her lifetime.
Lady Gregory is mainly remembered for her work behind the
Irish Literary Revival
The Irish Literary Revival (also called the Irish Literary Renaissance, nicknamed the Celtic Twilight) was a flowering of Irish literary talent in the late 19th and early 20th century. It includes works of poetry, music, art, and literature.
O ...
. Her home at
Coole Park
Coole Park is a nature reserve of approximately located a few miles west of Gort, County Galway, Ireland.
It is managed by the Irish National Parks & Wildlife Service, part of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
The park is i ...
in
County Galway served as an important meeting place for leading Revival figures, and her early work as a member of the board of the Abbey was at least as important as her creative writings for that theatre's development. Lady Gregory's motto was taken from
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
: "To think like a wise man, but to express oneself like the common people."
Biography
Early life and marriage
Gregory was born at Roxborough,
County Galway, the youngest daughter of the
Anglo-Irish gentry family Persse. Her mother, Frances Barry, was related to
Viscount Guillamore, and her family home, Roxborough, was a 6,000-acre (24 km²) estate located between
Gort
Gort ( or ) is a town of around 3,000 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 and R460 regional roads, wh ...
and
Loughrea
Loughrea ( ; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The town lies to the north of a range of wooded hills, the Slieve Aughty Mountains, and the lake from which it takes its name. The town's cathedral, St Brendan's, dominates the town's skyline ...
, the main house of which was later burnt down during the
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...
. She was educated at home, and her future career was strongly influenced by the family nurse (i.e.
nanny
A nanny is a person who provides child care. Typically, this care is given within the children's family setting. Throughout history, nannies were usually servants in large households and reported directly to the lady of the house. Today, modern ...
), Mary Sheridan, a Catholic and a
native Irish speaker, who introduced the young Augusta to the history and legends of the local area.
She married
Sir William Henry Gregory, a widower with an estate at
Coole Park
Coole Park is a nature reserve of approximately located a few miles west of Gort, County Galway, Ireland.
It is managed by the Irish National Parks & Wildlife Service, part of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
The park is i ...
, near Gort, on 4 March 1880 in St Matthias' Church, Dublin. Sir William, who was 20 years her elder, had just retired from his position as Governor of
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
(now Sri Lanka), having previously served several terms as Member of Parliament for County Galway. He was a well-educated man with many literary and artistic interests, and the house at Coole Park housed a large library and extensive art collection, both of which Lady Gregory was eager to explore. He also had a house in London, where the couple spent a considerable amount of time, holding weekly
salons frequented by many leading literary and artistic figures of the day, including
Robert Browning,
Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
,
John Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...
and
Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
. Their only child,
Robert Gregory, was born in 1881. He was killed during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
while serving as a pilot, an event which inspired
W. B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
's poems "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death", "In Memory of Major Robert Gregory" and "Shepherd and Goatherd".
Early writings
![Portrait of Augusta Gregory P11314](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Portrait_of_Augusta_Gregory_P11314.jpg)
The Gregorys travelled in
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, India, Spain, Italy and Egypt. While in Egypt, Lady Gregory had an affair with the English poet
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (17 August 1840 – 10 September 1922), sometimes spelt Wilfred, was an English poet and writer. He and his wife Lady Anne Blunt travelled in the Middle East and were instrumental in preserving the Arabian horse bloodlines ...
, during which she wrote a series of love poems, ''A Woman's Sonnets''.
Her earliest work to appear under her own name was ''Arabi and His Household'' (1882), a pamphlet—originally a letter to ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
''—in support of
Ahmed Orabi Pasha, leader of what has come to be known as the
Urabi Revolt, an 1879 Egyptian nationalist revolt against the oppressive regime of the
Khedive
Khedive (, ota, خدیو, hıdiv; ar, خديوي, khudaywī) was an honorific title of Persian origin used for the sultans and grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire, but most famously for the viceroy of Egypt from 1805 to 1914.Adam Mestyan"Kh ...
and the European domination of Egypt. She later said of this booklet, "whatever political indignation or energy was born with me may have run its course in that Egyptian year and worn itself out". Despite this, in 1893 she published ''A Phantom's Pilgrimage, or Home Ruin'', an anti-Nationalist pamphlet against
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
's proposed second
Home Rule
Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...
Act.
She continued to write prose during the period of her marriage. During the winter of 1883, whilst her husband was in Ceylon, she worked on a series of memoirs of her childhood home, with a view to publishing them under the title ''An Emigrant's Notebook'', but this plan was abandoned. She wrote a series of pamphlets in 1887 called ''Over the River'', in which she appealed for funds for the parish of St. Stephens in
Southwark
Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
, south London. She also wrote a number of short stories in the years 1890 and 1891, although these also never appeared in print. A number of unpublished poems from this period have also survived. When Sir William Gregory died in March 1892, Lady Gregory went into mourning and returned to Coole Park; there she edited her husband's autobiography, which she published in 1894. She was to write later, "If I had not married I should not have learned the quick enrichment of sentences that one gets in conversation; had I not been widowed I should not have found the detachment of mind, the leisure for observation necessary to give insight into character, to express and interpret it. Loneliness made me rich—'full', as Bacon says.".
Cultural nationalism
A trip to
Inisheer
Inisheer ( ga, Inis Oírr , or ) is the smallest and most easterly of the three Aran Islands in Galway Bay, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. With 281 residents as of the 2016 census, it is second-most populous of the Arans. Caomhán of Inishe ...
in the
Aran Islands
The Aran Islands ( ; gle, Oileáin Árann, ) or The Arans (''na hÁrainneacha'' ) are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland, with a total area around . They constitute the historic barony of Aran i ...
in 1893 re-awoke for Lady Gregory an interest in the Irish language
[Lady Gregory](_blank)
. Irish Writers Online, accessed 23 September 2007. and in the folklore of the area in which she lived. She organised Irish lessons at the school at Coole, and began collecting tales from the area around her home, especially from the residents of Gort
workhouse
In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...
. One of the tutors she employed was
Norma Borthwick
Mariella Norma Borthwick (25 July 1862 – 13 June 1934) was a British artist and writer and an Irish language activist.
Early life
Mariella Norma Borthwick was born in Highfield, Higher Bebington, Chester, on 25 July 1862. She was one of fi ...
, who would visit Coole numerous times.
This activity led to the publication of a number of volumes of folk material, including ''A Book of Saints and Wonders'' (1906), ''The Kiltartan History Book'' (1909) and ''The Kiltartan Wonder Book'' (1910). She also produced a number of collections of "Kiltartanese" versions of Irish myths, including ''
Cuchulain of Muirthemne
''Cuchulain of Muirthemne'' is a version of the Cú Chulainn legends based on previous oral and written versions, as collected and translated by Lady Augusta Gregory. First published in 1902, it is one of the earliest such collections to appear i ...
'' (1902) and ''Gods and Fighting Men'' (1903). ("Kiltartanese" is Lady Gregory's term for English with Gaelic syntax, based on the dialect spoken in
Kiltartan
Kiltartan is a barony and civil parish in County Galway, Ireland. The southern portion of this barony was formerly known as Cenél Áeda na hEchtge or O'Shaughnessy's Country, the northern portion was called Coill Ua bhFiachrach (the territory o ...
.) In his introduction to ''Cuchulain of Muirthemne'' Yeats wrote "I think this book is the best that has come out of Ireland in my time".
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
was to parody this claim in the
Scylla and Charybdis
In Greek mythology, Scylla), is obsolete. ( ; grc-gre, Σκύλλα, Skúlla, ) is a legendary monster who lives on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite her counterpart Charybdis. The two sides of the strait are within an arrow's ran ...
chapter of his novel ''
Ulysses
Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature.
Ulysses may also refer to:
People
* Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name
Places in the United States
* Ulysses, Kansas
* Ulysse ...
''.
Towards the end of 1894, encouraged by the positive reception of the editing of her husband's autobiography, Lady Gregory turned her attention to another editorial project. She decided to prepare selections from Sir William Gregory's grandfather's correspondence for publication as ''Mr Gregory's Letter-Box 1813–30'' (1898). This entailed her researching Irish history of the period; one outcome of this work was a shift in her political position, from the "soft"
Unionism of her earlier writing on Home Rule to a definite support of
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...
and
Republicanism
Republicanism is a political ideology centered on citizenship in a state organized as a republic. Historically, it emphasises the idea of self-rule and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or oligarchy to popular sovereignty. It ...
, and to what she was later to describe as "a dislike and distrust of England".
Founding of the Abbey
Edward Martyn
Edward Martyn (30 January 1859 – 5 December 1923) was an Irish playwright and early republican political and cultural activist, as the first president of Sinn Féin from 1905–08.
Early life
Martyn was the elder son of John Martyn of Tullira ...
was a neighbour of Lady Gregory, and it was during a visit to his home, Tullira Castle, in 1896 that she first met W. B. Yeats. Discussions between the three of them, over the following year or so, led to the founding of the Irish Literary Theatre in 1899. Lady Gregory undertook fundraising, and the first programme consisted of Martyn's ''The Heather Field'' and Yeats's ''
The Countess Cathleen
''The Countess Cathleen'' is a verse drama by William Butler Yeats in blank verse (with some lyrics). It was dedicated to Maud Gonne, the object of his affections for many years.
Editions and revisions
The play was first published in 1892 in ...
''.
The Irish Literary Theatre project lasted until 1901, when it collapsed owing to lack of funding. In 1904, Lady Gregory, Martyn, Yeats,
John Millington Synge
Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909) was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, collector of folklore, and a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival. His best known play ''The Playboy of the Western World'' was poorly r ...
,
Æ,
Annie Horniman
Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman CH (3 October 1860 – 6 August 1937) was an English theatre patron and manager. She established the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and founded the first regional repertory theatre company in Britain at the Gaiety ...
and
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
and
Frank Fay came together to form the
Irish National Theatre Society
The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the pu ...
. The first performances staged by the society took place in a building called the Molesworth Hall. When the
Hibernian Theatre of Varieties in Lower Abbey Street and an adjacent building in
Marlborough Street became available, Horniman and William Fay agreed to their purchase and refitting to meet the needs of the society.
On 11 May 1904, the society formally accepted Horniman's offer of the use of the building. As Horniman was not normally resident in Ireland, the Royal
Letters Patent required were paid for by her but granted in the name of Lady Gregory. One of her own plays, ''
Spreading the News
''Spreading the News'' is a short one-act comic play by Lady Gregory, which she wrote for the opening night of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, 27 Dec. 1904. It was performed as part of a triple bill alongside William Butler Yeats's "On Baile's Strand" ...
'', was performed on the opening night, 27 December 1904. At the opening of Synge's ''
The Playboy of the Western World
''The Playboy of the Western World'' is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge and first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 26 January 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo (o ...
'' in January 1907, a significant portion of the crowd rioted, causing the remainder of the performances to be acted out in
dumbshow
Dumbshow, also dumb show or dumb-show, is defined by the ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' as "gestures used to convey a meaning or message without speech; mime." In the theatre the word refers to a piece of dramatic mime in general, or more partic ...
. Lady Gregory did not think as highly of the play as Yeats did, but she defended Synge as a matter of principle. Her view of the affair is summed up in a letter to Yeats where she wrote of the riots: "It is the old battle, between those who use a toothbrush and those who don't."
Later career
In July 1925, ''The Travelling Man'' by Lady Gregory was broadcast by the nascent
British Broadcasting Company
The British Broadcasting Company Ltd. (BBC) was a short-lived British commercial broadcasting company formed on 18 October 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom. Licensed by the British Genera ...
's
2LO (London) station.
She remained an active director of the theatre until ill-health led to her retirement in 1928. During this time she wrote more than 19 plays, mainly for production at the Abbey.
Many of these were written in an attempted transliteration of the
Hiberno-English
Hiberno-English (from Latin ''Hibernia'': "Ireland"), and in ga, Béarla na hÉireann. or Irish English, also formerly Anglo-Irish, is the set of English dialects native to the island of Ireland (including both the Republic of Ireland a ...
dialect spoken around Coole Park that became widely known as Kiltartanese, from the nearby village of
Kiltartan
Kiltartan is a barony and civil parish in County Galway, Ireland. The southern portion of this barony was formerly known as Cenél Áeda na hEchtge or O'Shaughnessy's Country, the northern portion was called Coill Ua bhFiachrach (the territory o ...
. Her plays had been among the most successful at the Abbey in the earlier years, but their popularity declined. Indeed, the Irish writer
Oliver St. John Gogarty
Oliver Joseph St. John Gogarty (17 August 1878 – 22 September 1957) was an Irish poet, author, otolaryngologist, athlete, politician, and well-known conversationalist. He served as the inspiration for Buck Mulligan in James Joyce's novel ...
once wrote "the perpetual presentation of her plays nearly ruined the Abbey". In addition to her plays, she wrote a two-volume study of the folklore of her native area called ''Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland'' in 1920. She also played the lead role in three performances of ''Cathleen Ni Houlihan'' in 1919.
During her time on the board of the Abbey, Coole Park remained her home; she spent her time in Dublin staying in a number of hotels. For example, at the time of the 1911 national census, she was staying in a hotel at 16 South Frederick Street. In these she dined frugally, often on food she had brought with her from home. She frequently used her hotel rooms to interview would-be Abbey dramatists and to entertain the company after opening nights of new plays. She spent many of her days working on her translations in the
National Library of Ireland
The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ga, Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is the Republic of Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland i ...
. She gained a reputation as being a somewhat conservative figure. For example, when
Denis Johnston
(William) Denis Johnston (18 June 1901 – 8 August 1984) was an Irish writer. Born in Dublin, he wrote mostly plays, but also works of literary criticism, a book-length biographical essay of Jonathan Swift, a memoir and an eccentric work on co ...
submitted to the Abbey his first play, ''Shadowdance'', it was rejected by Lady Gregory and returned to the author with "The Old Lady says No" written on the title page. Johnston decided to rename the play, and ''The Old Lady Says 'No!' '' was eventually staged by the
Gate Theatre
The Gate Theatre is a theatre on Cavendish Row in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1928.
History Beginnings
The Gate Theatre was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir with Daisy Bannard Cogley and Gearóid Ó Lochlai ...
in 1928.
Retirement and death
When she retired from the Abbey board, Lady Gregory returned to live in Galway, although she continued to visit Dublin regularly. The house and
demesne
A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...
at Coole Park had been sold to the
Irish Forestry Commission in 1927, with Lady Gregory retaining life tenancy. Her Galway home had long been a focal point for the writers associated with the Irish Literary Revival, and this continued after her retirement. On a tree in what were the grounds of the house, one can still see the carved initials of Synge, Æ, Yeats and his artist brother
Jack
Jack may refer to:
Places
* Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA
People and fictional characters
* Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
,
George Moore,
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey ( ga, Seán Ó Cathasaigh ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.
...
,
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
,
Katharine Tynan
Katharine Tynan (23 January 1859 – 2 April 1931)Clarke, Frances (2013)"Hinkson (née Tynan), Katharine Tynan" in ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). was an Irish writer, known mainly for her novels and p ...
and
Violet Martin. Yeats wrote five poems about, or set in, the house and grounds: "The Wild Swans at Coole", "I walked among the seven woods of Coole", "In the Seven Woods", "Coole Park, 1929" and "Coole Park and Ballylee, 1931".
In 1932, Lady Gregory, whom Shaw once described as "the greatest living Irishwoman", died at home aged 80 from
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...
, and is buried in the New Cemetery in
Bohermore
Bohermore () is an area of Galway, Ireland. It got this name as it was the main road into Galway City from the east in medieval times.
There is a large cemetery located in Bohermore known as the "New Cemetery", which contains two mortuary chape ...
,
County Galway. The entire contents of Coole Park were auctioned three months after her death, and the house was demolished in 1941.
Legacy
Her plays fell out of favour after her death, and are now rarely performed. Many of the diaries and journals she kept for most of her adult life have been published, providing a rich source of information on Irish literary history during the first three decades of the 20th century.
Her ''
Cuchulain of Muirthemne
''Cuchulain of Muirthemne'' is a version of the Cú Chulainn legends based on previous oral and written versions, as collected and translated by Lady Augusta Gregory. First published in 1902, it is one of the earliest such collections to appear i ...
'' is still considered a good retelling of the
Ulster Cycle
The Ulster Cycle ( ga, an Rúraíocht), formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the Ulaid. It is set far in the past, in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly coun ...
tales such as
Deidre,
Cuchulainn, and the
Táin Bó Cúailnge
(Modern ; "the driving-off of the cows of Cooley"), commonly known as ''The Táin'' or less commonly as ''The Cattle Raid of Cooley'', is an epic from Irish mythology. It is often called "The Irish Iliad", although like most other early Iri ...
stories.
Thomas Kinsella
Thomas Kinsella (4 May 192822 December 2021) was an Irish poet, translator, editor, and publisher. Born outside Dublin, Kinsella attended University College Dublin before entering the civil service. He began publishing poetry in the early 1950s ...
wrote "I emerged with the conviction that Lady Gregory's ''Cuchul-ian of Muirthemne'', though only a paraphrase, gave the best idea of the Ulster stories". However her version omitted some elements of the tale, usually assumed to avoid offending Victorian sensibilities, as well being an attempt as presenting a "respectable" nation myth for the Irish, though her paraphrase is not considered dishonest. Other critics find the
bowdlerisation
Expurgation, also known as bowdlerization, is a form of censorship that involves purging anything deemed noxious or offensive from an artistic work or other type of writing or media.
The term ''bowdlerization'' is a pejorative term for the practi ...
s in her works more offensive, not only the removal of references to sex and bodily functions, but also the loss of Cuchulain's "battle frenzy" (''
Ríastrad''); in other areas she censored less than some of her male contemporaries, such as
Standish O'Grady.
In November 2020 it was announced that
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
, whose library's forty busts previously represented men only was commissioning four additional busts of women and that one of them would be a bust of Lady Gregory.
Published works, collaborations and translations
*''Arabi and His Household'' (1882)
*''Over the River'' (1888)
*''A Phantom's Pilgrimage, or Home Ruin'' (1893) (anonymously)
*''Sir William Gregory, K.C.M.G., Formerly Member of Parliament and Sometime Governor of *Ceylon: An Autobiography'' (editor 1894)
*''Mr. Gregory's Letter Box 1813–1830'' (editor 1898)
*''Casadh an t-súgáin; or, The Twisting of the Rope'' (translator 1902)
*''Cuchulain of Muirthemne: The Story of the Men of the Red Branch of Ulster'' (Irish folk tales 1902)
*''Poets and Dreamers: Studies and Translations from the Irish by Lady Gregory'' (1903)
*''Gods and Fighting Men: The Story of the Tuatha de Danann and of the Fianna of Ireland'' (1904)
*''Kincora: A Drama in Three Acts ''(1905)
*''Spreading the News, The Rising of the Moon By Lady Gregory. The Poorhouse by Lady Gregory and Douglas Hyde'' (1906)
*''The Hyacinth Galvey: A Comedy'' (1906)
*''A Book of Saints and Wonders, Put Down Here by Lady Gregory According to the Old Writings and the Memory of the People of Ireland ''(1907)
*''Seven Short Plays: Spreading the News. Hyacinth Halvey. The Rising of the Moon. The Jackdaw. The Workhouse Ward. The Travelling Man. The Gaol Gate'' (1909)
*''The Kiltartan History Book'' (1909)
*''The Kiltartan Molière: The Miser. The Doctor in Spite of Himself. The Rogueries of Scapin.'' Translated by Lady Gregory (1910)
*''Spreading the News'' (1911)
*''The Kiltartan Wonder Book'' by Lady Gregory (1911)
*''Irish Folk-History Plays, 1st series. The Tragedies: Grania – Kincora—Dervorgilla'' (1912)
*''Irish Folk-History Plays, 2nd series: The Tragic-Comedies: The Canavans – The White Cockade – The Deliverer'' (1912)
*''New Comedies: The Bogie Men; The Full Moon; Coats; Damer's Gold; McDonough's Wife'' (1913)
*''Damer's Gold: A Comedy in Two Acts'' (1913)
*''Coats'' (1913)
*''Our Irish Theatre – A Chapter of Autobiography'' (1913)
*''The Unicorn from the Stars: And Other Plays'', by W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory (1915)
*''Shanwalla'' (1915)
*''The Golden Apple: A Play for Kiltartan Children'' (1916)
*''The Kiltartan Poetry Book: Prose Translations from the Irish'' (1919)
*''The Dragon: A Wonder Play in Three Acts'' (1920)
*''Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland Collected and Arranged by Lady Gregory: With Two Essays and Notes by W.B. Yeats'' (1920)
*''Hugh Lane's Life and Achievement, with Some Account of the Dublin Galleries. With Illustrations'' (1921)
*''The Image and Other Plays'' (''Hanranhan's Ghost''; ''Shanwalla''; ''The Wrens''(1922)
*''Three Wonder Plays: The Dragon. Aristotle's Bellows. The Jester ''(1922)
*''Plays in Prose and Verse: Written for an Irish Theatre, and Generally with the Help of a Friend'', by W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory (1922)
*''The Story Brought by Brigit'' (1924)
*''Mirandolina'' (1924)
*''On the Racecourse'' (1926)
*''Three Last Plays: Sancho's Master. Dave. The Would-Be Gentleman'' (1928)
*''My First Play (Colman and Guair)'' (1930)
*''Coole ''(1931)
*''Lady Gregory's Journals'' (1947)
*''Seventy Years, 1852-1922, Being the Autobiography of Lady Gregory'' (1974)
*''The Journals. Part 1. 10 October 1916 – 24 February 1925'' (1978)
*''The Journals. Part 2. 21 February 1925 – 9 May 1932'' (1987)
*''Lady Gregory's Diaries 1892-1902'' (1996)
*''Lady Gregory's Early Irish Writings 1883-1893'' (2018)
See also
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Cathleen Ní Houlihan
''Cathleen ni Houlihan'' is a one-act play written by William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory in 1902. It was first performed on 2 April of that year and first published in the October number of ''Samhain''. Lady Gregory wrote the naturalistic peas ...
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External links
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Lady Gregory Collectionat the
Harry Ransom Center
The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...
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