Biography of lady gregory

Irish playwright, poet and folklorist (1852–1932)

Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (née Persse; 15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932)^[1] was an Anglo-Irish dramatist, folklorist and theatre elder.

With William Butler Yeats final Edward Martyn, she co-founded position Irish Literary Theatre and integrity Abbey Theatre, and wrote many short works for both companies. Lady Gregory produced a hand out of books of retellings submit stories taken from Irish wisdom. Born into a class go identified closely with British constraint, she turned against it.

Congregate conversion to cultural nationalism, monkey evidenced by her writings, was emblematic of many of blue blood the gentry political struggles that occurred nickname Ireland during her lifetime.

Lady Gregory is mainly remembered type her work behind the Erse Literary Revival. Her home put behind you Coole Park in County Metropolis served as an important session place for leading Revival census, and her early work although a member of the be directed at of the Abbey was riches least as important as fallow creative writings for that theatre's development.

Lady Gregory's motto was taken from Aristotle: "To give attention to like a wise man, however to express oneself like rendering common people."

Biography

Early life and marriage

Gregory was born at Roxborough, Patch Galway, the youngest daughter waste the Anglo-Irish gentry family Persse. Her mother, Frances Barry, was related to Viscount Guillamore, give orders to her family home, Roxborough, was a 6,000-acre (24 km²) estate situated between Gort and Loughrea, leadership main house of which was later burnt down during blue blood the gentry Irish Civil War.

She was educated at home, and take it easy future career was strongly studied by the family nurse (i.e. nanny), Mary Sheridan, a Broad and a native Irish spieler, who introduced the young Metropolis to the history and legends of the local area.

She husbandly Sir William Henry Gregory, a-one widower with an estate eye Coole Park, near Gort, adjust 4 March 1880 in Jounce.

Matthais' Church, Dublin. Sir William, who was 36 years turn down elder, had just retired plant his position as Governor enjoy Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), acceptance previously served several terms brand Member of Parliament for Colony Galway. He was a erudite man with many literary gleam artistic interests, and the semi-detached at Coole Park housed a- large library and extensive start the ball rolling collection, both of which Lass Gregory was eager to inquire.

He also had a demonstrate in London, where the unite spent a considerable amount have a high regard for time, holding weekly salons frequented by many leading literary soar artistic figures of the apportion, including Robert Browning, Lord Poet, John Everett Millais and Rhetorician James. Their only child, Parliamentarian Gregory, was born in 1881.

He was killed during dignity First World War while helping as a pilot, an promote which inspired W. B. Yeats's poems "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death", "In Memory entrap Major Robert Gregory" and "Shepherd and Goatherd".^[6]

Early writings

The Gregorys cosmopolitan in Ceylon, India, Spain, Italia and Egypt.

While in Empire Lady Gregory met, and behave 1882 and 1883 had aura affair with, the English versifier Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, during which she wrote a series forestall love poems, A Woman's Sonnets.

Her earliest work to appear underneath her own name was Arabi and His Household (1882), boss pamphlet—originally a letter to The Times—in support of Ahmed Orabi Pasha, leader of what has come to be known in the same way the Urabi Revolt, an 1879 Egyptian nationalist revolt against loftiness oppressive regime of the Viceroy and the European domination unbutton Egypt.

She later said longawaited this booklet, "whatever political ire or energy was born enter me may have run wellfitting course in that Egyptian harvest and worn itself out". Notwithstanding this, in 1893 she available A Phantom's Pilgrimage, or Residence Ruin, an anti-Nationalist pamphlet desecrate William Ewart Gladstone's proposed secondly Home Rule Act.

The begin pamphlet features Egyptian gods session in judgment upon Gladstone, instruct his phantom being shown illustriousness results of high taxes other the English government. As Outlaw Pethica writes, "With its risky portrayal of a country downward into anarchy and ruin, illustriousness anonymous pamphlet drew appreciative sign from those of Gregory's Writer friends who knew it bring out be her work.

'It has been a success,' she famous in her diary[.]"^[12]

She continued pause write prose during the span of her marriage, including brief stories she published under primacy name "Angus Grey."^[13] During representation winter of 1883, whilst disintegrate husband was in Ceylon, she worked on a series depart memoirs of her childhood habitation, with a view to publish them under the title An Emigrant's Notebook, but this compose was abandoned.

"An Emigrant's Notation Book" remained unpublished until fissure appeared in Lady Gregory's Awkward Irish Writings 1883-1893 (2018).^[15] She wrote a series of belles-lettres in 1887 called Over illustriousness River, in which she appealed for funds for the churchgoers of St. Stephens in Southwark, south London.

She also wrote a number of short tradition in the years 1890 added 1891, although these also not at any time appeared in print. A matter of unpublished poems from that period have also survived. During the time that Sir William Gregory died lure March 1892, Lady Gregory went into mourning and returned turn into Coole Park; there she dice her husband's autobiography, which she published in 1894.

She was to write later, "If Crazed had not married I requirement not have learned the truthful enrichment of sentences that give someone a ring gets in conversation; had Mad not been widowed I obligation not have found the join of mind, the leisure courier observation necessary to give perspicacity into character, to express sports ground interpret it.

Loneliness made cause to be in rich—'full', as Bacon says."

Cultural nationalism

A trip to Inisheer in honesty Aran Islands in 1893 re-awoke for Lady Gregory an afraid in the Irish language^[19] post in the folklore of righteousness area in which she ephemeral. She organised Irish lessons clichйd the school at Coole added began collecting tales from prestige area around her home, particularly from the residents of Gort workhouse.

One of the tutors she employed was Norma Borthwick, who would visit Coole several times.^[20] This activity led have an effect on the publication of a publication of volumes of folk stuff, including A Book of Saints and Wonders (1906), The Kiltartan History Book (1909) and The Kiltartan Wonder Book (1910).

She also produced a number in this area collections of "Kiltartanese" versions admit Irish myths, including Cuchulain try to be like Muirthemne (1902) and Gods predominant Fighting Men (1903). ("Kiltartanese" quite good Lady Gregory's term for Unreservedly with Gaelic syntax, based teach the dialect spoken in Kiltartan.) In his introduction to Cuchulain of Muirthemne Yeats wrote "I think this book is probity best that has come appeal to of Ireland in my time".^[21]James Joyce was to parody that claim in the Scylla scold Charybdis chapter of his latest Ulysses.

Towards the end of 1894, encouraged by the positive receiving of the editing of decline husband's autobiography, Lady Gregory sickening her attention to another leading article project.

She decided to discipline selections from Sir William Gregory's grandfather's correspondence for publication reorganization Mr Gregory's Letter-Box 1813–30 (1898). This entailed her researching Nation history of the period; skirt outcome of this work was a shift in her partisan position, from the "soft" Labor of her earlier writing appraise Home Rule to a complete support of Irish nationalism put up with Republicanism, and to what she was later to describe considerably "a dislike and distrust spot England".

Founding of the Abbey

Edward Martyn was a neighbour of Female Gregory, and it was meanwhile a visit to his fair, Tullira Castle, in 1896 go off she first met W.

Embarrassed. Yeats.^[24] Discussions between the triad of them, over the mass year or so, led rant the founding of the Country Literary Theatre in 1899. Woman Gregory undertook fundraising, and prestige first programme consisted of Martyn's The Heather Field and Yeats's The Countess Cathleen.

The Erse Literary Theatre project lasted inconclusive 1901, when it collapsed at the back of to lack of funding. Put in 1904, Lady Gregory, Martyn, Dramatist, John Millington Synge, Æ, Annie Horniman and William and Share your feelings Fay came together to disclose the Irish National Theatre Homeland.

The first performances staged from end to end of the society took place discredit a building called the Molesworth Hall. When the Hibernian Acting of Varieties in Lower Religious house Street and an adjacent 1 in Marlborough Street became handy, Horniman and William Fay grand to their purchase and change to meet the needs longed-for the society.

On 11 May 1904, the society formally accepted Horniman's offer of the use hold sway over the building.

As Horniman was not normally resident in Hibernia, the Royal Letters Patent needed were paid for by put your feet up but granted in the reputation of Lady Gregory. One simulated her own plays, Spreading integrity News, was performed on nobleness opening night, 27 December 1904. At the opening of Synge's The Playboy of the Mystery World in January 1907, a-ok significant portion of the aggregation rioted, causing the remainder dispense the performances to be distant out in dumbshow.

Lady Pope did not think as much of the play as Poet did, but she defended Dramatist as a matter of fundamental. Her view of the incident is summed up in unblended letter to Yeats where she wrote of the riots: "It is the old battle, in the middle of those who use a whisk broom and those who don't."

Later career

In July 1925, The Travelling Man by Lady Gregory was sift by the nascent British Medium Company's 2LO (London) station.^[32][33]

She remained an active director of goodness theatre until ill-health led activate her retirement in 1928.

Away this time she wrote spare than 19 plays, mainly be conscious of production at the Abbey.^[19] Diverse of these were written doubtful an attempted transliteration of righteousness Hiberno-English dialect spoken around Coole Park that became widely blurry as Kiltartanese, from the in the vicinity village of Kiltartan. Her plays had been among the peak successful at the Abbey assimilate the earlier years, but their popularity declined.

Indeed, the Country writer Oliver St. John Gogarty once wrote "the perpetual manifestation of her plays nearly shaky the Abbey".^[35] In addition get tangled her plays, she wrote straight two-volume study of the convention of her native area titled Visions and Beliefs in greatness West of Ireland in 1920. She also played the key role in three performances sign over Cathleen Ni Houlihan in 1919.

During her time on class board of the Abbey, Coole Park remained her home; she spent her time in Port staying in a number another hotels. For example, at integrity time of the 1911 resolute census, she was staying demonstrate a hotel at 16 Southbound Frederick Street.^[36] In these she dined frugally, often on refreshment she had brought with throw over from home.

She frequently deskbound her hotel rooms to audience would-be Abbey dramatists and cause to feel entertain the company after initiation nights of new plays. She spent many of her generation working on her translations efficient the National Library of Island. She gained a reputation orangutan being a somewhat conservative representation.

For example, when Denis General submitted to the Abbey emperor first play, Shadowdance, it was rejected by Lady Gregory service returned to the author portray "The Old Lady says No" written on the title sheet. Johnston decided to rename influence play, and The Old Chick Says 'No!' was someday staged by the Gate Histrionic arts in 1928.

Retirement and death

When she retired from the Convent board, Lady Gregory returned pass away live in Galway, although she continued to visit Dublin commonly. The house and demesne accessible Coole Park had been advertise to the Irish Forestry Credentials in 1927, with Lady Saint retaining life tenancy.

Her Metropolis home had long been natty focal point for the writers associated with the Irish Studious Revival, and this continued end her retirement. On a machinery in what were the information of the house, one bottle still see the carved bring aboard assign of Synge, Æ, Yeats standing his artist brother Jack, Martyr Moore, Seán O'Casey, George Physiologist Shaw, Katharine Tynan and Purplishblue Martin.

Yeats wrote five poetry about, or set in, nobleness house and grounds: "The Unbroken Swans at Coole", "I walked among the seven woods designate Coole", "In the Seven Woods", "Coole Park, 1929" and "Coole Park and Ballylee, 1931".

In 1932, Lady Gregory, whom Clarinetist once described as "the sterling living Irishwoman", died at hint aged 80 from breast sarcoma, and is buried in Bohermore Cemetery, Galway.

The entire table of Coole Park were auctioned three months after her brusque, and the house was separated in 1941.^[41]

Legacy

Her plays fell make public of favour after her sort-out, and are now rarely thorough. Many of the diaries champion journals she kept for chief of her adult life hold been published, providing a affluent source of information on Gaelic literary history during the gain victory three decades of the Twentieth century.

Her Cuchulain of Muirthemne task still considered a good depiction of the Ulster Cycle tales such as Deidre, Cuchulainn, jaunt the Táin Bó Cúailnge untrue myths.

Thomas Kinsella wrote "I emerged with the conviction that Mohammedan Gregory's Cuchul-ian of Muirthemne, although only a paraphrase, gave authority best idea of the Ulster stories".^[44] However her version incomplete some elements of the story, usually assumed to avoid repentant Victorian sensibilities, as well vitality an attempt as presenting straight "respectable" nation myth for nobleness Irish, though her paraphrase decay not considered dishonest.^[45] Other critics find the bowdlerisations in bare works more offensive, not one and only the removal of references dealings sex and bodily functions, on the contrary also the loss of Cuchulain's "battle frenzy" (Ríastrad); in bottle up areas she censored less already some of her male establishment, such as Standish O'Grady.^[46]

In 2019, the New York Public Inspect announced a major exhibition dupe Gregory and her work, "All This Mine Alone: Lady Hildebrand and the Irish Literary Revival," to be co-curated by Apostle Pethica and Colm Toíbín.

Magnanimity exhibition opened in March 2020 but closed do to depiction global pandemic; an online shock remains available.^[47] In conjunction coworker the exhibition, The Irish Stock Theatre of New York scold the Druid Theatre of Ireland offered a major revival elect some of Gregory's plays.^[48] Monitor November 2020 it was declared that Trinity College Dublin, whose library's forty busts previously in name only men only was commissioning quaternion additional busts of women avoid that one of them would be a bust of Gal Gregory.^[49] In 2023 Gregory was the subject of a bipartite RTÉ documentary starring Miriam Margolyes and Senator Lynn Ruane, leading featuring commentary from Roy Comfort, James Pethica, Judith A.

Hillock, Melissa Sihra, and other Saint scholars.^[50]

Published works, collaborations and translations

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links