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.

This course meets each Friday from 5 September through 3 October, from noon until 1:20.

Registration is required: go here