Augusta Gregory

15 March 1852 - 22 May 1932

Standard Name: Gregory, Augusta

Birth Name: Isabella Augusta Persse

Married Name: Isabella Augusta Gregory

Titled: Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory

Pseudonym: Angus Grey

Pseudonym: An Irish Landlord

Used Form: Lady Augusta Gregory

Augusta Gregory was a highly energetic and creative force in the Irish Literary Revival, which began in the late nineteenth century. Material from her collections and translations of Irish folklore, epics, and oral poetry inspired new literary works by herself and others. At the age of fifty, she began writing plays for the Abbey Theatre , which she co-founded and co-directed. Her skill at rendering idiomatic conversation, honed through years of listening to the stories told to her by country people in county Galway, is evident throughout her writing. In addition to her drama and folklore, Lady Gregory wrote several articles on Irish politics and culture, two memoirs, a history of the Abbey Theatre, diaries, and an autobiography. As a nationalist with an identity grounded in the ruling class, she can be seen as a colonialist reformer.

Full profile

Connections

Connections	Author name Sort ascending	Excerpt
Performance of text	W. B. Yeats	Dublin's Abbey Theatre , new home of the Irish National Theatre Society , opened with WBY 's On Baile's Strand in a triple bill with Lady Gregory 's Spreading the News, and Cathleen ni Houlihan by them both. “Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC. 10
Friends, Associates	W. B. Yeats	Several women writers and public figures played very important roles in Yeats's life. Lady Gregory (whom he first met in London in 1894 and whose close friend he became in 1896) played a crucial role...
Performance of text	W. B. Yeats	Augusta Gregory collaborated with Yeats on a revised version of this play, The Unicorn from the Stars, which opened at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin on 21 November 1907.
Textual Production	W. B. Yeats	He and his wife Georgiana travelled to Stockholm to accept the prize. In his acceptance speech, Yeats acknowledged the importance of Augusta Gregory and John Synge to his writing. “Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC. 19
Textual Production	W. B. Yeats	WBY published a collection of verse, The Wild Swans at Coole, whose title poem was inspired by the swans at the estate of his friend and patron, Lady Gregory . Wade, Allan, and Russell K. Alspach. A Bibliography of the Writings of W.B. Yeats. Hart-Davis. 124 “Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC. 19
Performance of text	W. B. Yeats	The inaugural night of the Irish Literary Theatre (founded by Lady Gregory and WBY ) at the Antient Concert Rooms , Dublin, presented Yeats's The Countess Cathleen and Edward Martyn 's Heather Field. Hartnoll, Phyllis, editor. The Oxford Companion to the Theatre. Oxford University Press. 420 Smythe, Colin et al., editors. “Chronology”. Lady Gregory, Fifty Years After, Colin Smythe, pp. 1-12. 3 “Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC. 10
Friends, Associates	John Millington Synge	JMS 's major supporters in his dramatic career were William Butler Yeats and Augusta, Lady Gregory , who ran the Irish National Theatre . Other famous literary supporters included G. K. Chesterton , John Masefield
Occupation	John Millington Synge	In September 1905, JMS , along with Yeats and Lady Gregory , became directors of the company. George Russell and Fred Ryan were also administrators for the Irish National Theatre Society . Benson, Eugene. J. M. Synge. Macmillan. 11-12 Saddlemyer, Ann. “Introduction and Chronology”. The Collected Letters of John Millington Synge, Oxford University Press, p. ix - xxvi. xxiv Kiely, David M. John Millington Synge: A Biography. Gill and Macmillan. 156
Textual Production	John Millington Synge	He had begun writing this play in the summer of 1902, staying with his mother and relatives at a farmhouse in Tomriland, Wicklow, and by October had shown a version to the Theatre Society...
Literary responses	John Millington Synge	The first audiences hated what they perceived as the scandalously negative portrayal of Irish character. Actresses on stage in their shifts or undergarments were felt to be indelicate and damaging to national pride. Benson, Eugene. J. M. Synge. Macmillan. 12-13, 113, 115
Textual Production	Anne Stevenson	Visiting Coole Park in Galway (once the home of Augusta, Lady Gregory , and the haunt of poets), AS renewed her resolve to make poetry the centre of her life. Contemporary Authors, Autobiography Series. Gale Research. 9: 281
Friends, Associates	Edith Somerville	Other friends of Somerville's later years included W. B. Yeats and Augusta, Lady Gregory . In the 1940s Somerville exchanged letters with Maurice Baring . Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber. 162, 252, 265
Performance of text	George Bernard Shaw	Lady Gregory and W. B. Yeats produced GBS 's The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet: A Sermon in Crude Melodrama at the Abbey Theatre , Dublin. Innes, Christopher, editor. The Cambridge Companion to George Bernard Shaw. Cambridge University Press. xxv
Friends, Associates	Martin Ross	MR visited Lady Gregory 's estate of Coole Park in Galway, where she first met W. B. Yeats . Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber. 128
Reception	Martin Ross	The Corinthian Dinner Committee of Dublin honoured Irish women writers including Edith Somerville , Martin Ross , Lady Gregory , Eva Gore-Booth , Emily Lawless , Susan Mitchell , and Katharine Tynan . Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber. 158-9

Timeline

8 June 1847

The Irish Poor Law Extension Act was passed.

May 1915

Irish art collector Hugh Lane , nephew of Augusta Gregory , died suddenly by drowning, leaving his international art collection to the National Gallery of England, the Dublin National Gallery having earlier refused to...

Texts

Gregory, Augusta. A Book of Saints and Wonders. Dun Emer Press, 1906.

Gregory, Augusta. Coole. Cuala Press, 1931.

Gregory, Augusta. Cuchulain of Muirthemne. John Murray, 1902.

Malins, Edward, and Augusta Gregory. “Foreword”. Coole, edited by Colin Smythe, Dolmen Press, 1971, pp. 7-14.

Saddlemyer, Ann, and Augusta Gregory. “Foreword and History of First Productions”. The Comedies of Lady Gregory, Colin Smythe, 1970, p. v - xv.

Saddlemyer, Ann, and Augusta Gregory. “Foreword and History of First Productions”. The Tragedies and Tragic Comedies of Lady Gregory, Colin Smythe, 1970, p. v - xiii.

Gregory, Augusta. Gods and Fighting Men. John Murray, 1904.

Gregory, Augusta. Hyacinth Halvey. Maunsel, 1906.

Gregory, Augusta, editor. Ideals in Ireland. At the Unicorn, 1901.

McDiarmid, Lucy et al. “Introduction, Notes, and Bibliography”. Selected Writings, Penguin, 1995, pp. xi - xliv, 525.

Gregory, Augusta. Irish Folk-History Plays. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1912.

Gregory, Augusta. Kincora. Maunsel, 1905.

Gregory, Augusta. Lady Gregory’s Journals, 1916-1930. Editor Robinson, Lennox, Putnam, 1946.

Gregory, William. Mr. Gregory’s Letter-Box, 1813-1830. Editor Gregory, Augusta, Smith, Elder, 1898.

Gregory, Augusta. My First Play. Elkin Mathews and Marrot, 1930.

Gregory, Augusta. New Comedies. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1913.

Gregory, Augusta. Our Irish Theatre. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1913.

Gregory, Augusta, and Douglas Hyde. Poets and Dreamers. Hodges, Figgis, 1903.

Gregory, Augusta. Poets and Dreamers. Cambridge University Press, 2010, http://www.cambridge.org/series/sSeries.asp?code=CLOR.

Gregory, Augusta. Selected Writings. Editors McDiarmid, Lucy and Maureen Waters, Penguin, 1995.

Gregory, Augusta. Seven Short Plays. Maunsel, 1909.

Gregory, Augusta. Seventy Years. Editor Smythe, Colin, Colin Smythe, 1974.

Gregory, Sir William Henry. Sir William Gregory. Editor Gregory, Augusta, John Murray, 1894.

Gregory, Augusta, and Douglas Hyde. Spreading the News; The Rising of the Moon; The Poorhouse. Maunsel, 1906.

Gregory, Augusta. The Dragon. Talbot Press, 1920.