Dramatis Personae 1896-1902

W. B. Yeats

Dramatis Personae 1896-1902

London

Macmillan & Co. Ltd.

1936

Inscribed: “Lennox [Robinson] from W.B.Y./ September 1936."

Dramatis Personae is Yeats’s memoir of the origins of the Irish Literary Revival as well as the founding of the Irish Literary Theatre and its evolution into the Abbey Theatre. He places himself and Lady Gregory at the center of it all, settles some old scores, and creates the received history that has come down to this day. The inscription to Lennox Robinson, poet and playwright, is rife with meaning, as Robinson, Yeats’s protégé, had been manager of the Abbey Theatre and ultimately became a longstanding director of it. He edited Lady Gregory’s diaries for publication after her death and wrote a history of the Abbey Theatre as well.