Autograph letter signed by W. B. Yeats to Lady Gregory

Autograph letter signed by W. B. Yeats to Lady Gregory

April 27, 1916

Yeats was in London when the Rising began, having spent only about a week in Dublin over the preceding year. As events unfolded, he relied significantly on reports sent from Ireland by his sister Lily and by Lady Gregory. In this letter, his first surviving mention of the rebellion, he regrets “a tragic business that will leave Ireland different for a long time & affect our work a good deal.” Recognizing that the Rising would have significant consequences for the Abbey Theatre and for his own and Gregory’s creative work, he does not as yet envisage the “tragic business” as transformative. Over the following two weeks his references to the conflict express deep uncertainty about how to respond: “the whole thing bewilders me.”

Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations