In one of his last poems, W. B. Yeats, looking back on his life, asks “Did that play of
mine send out / Certain men the English shot?” On the brink of death, he realized that
Irish literature may have paved the bloody road to rebellion in 1916. This five-lecture
series will take Yeats at his word and investigate the role literature – principally Irish
drama – played in fomenting the spirit of Irish nationalism that resulted in the Irish
rebellion of 1916. Examining the early poetry of W. B. Yeats and the plays of W. B.
Yeats, J. M. Synge and Sean O’Casey, we will look at how this literature crafted (and
critiqued) an Irish cultural nationalism that demanded physical realization through
violence and ultimately sacrifice.

Professor James Byrne, Wheaton College

NICE

PO BOX 894

NORTON, MA 02766