The Shadowy Waters

W. B. Yeats.

The Shadowy Waters

London

Hodder and Stoughton

1900

Inscribed by Maud Gonne to nationalist journalist and poet Anna Johnston, aka Ethna Carberry: “To Anna with best love & Xmas greetings from Maud 1900.”

This is the first publication of a play that ultimately came to be described as a permanent work in progress through its many revisions. Johnston, who wrote under the name Carberry, was a founding member of Inghinidhe na hÉireann, the revolutionary women's organisation led by Gonne. She published poetry, helped edit and publish several nationalist literary journals, and collaborated with Gonne in writing and performing patriotic plays around Ireland.