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A photograph taken of Lady Gregory on an Abbey Theatre tour of the US. Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

The Irish For Kiltartanese and a passionate affair. The story of Galway's Lady Gregory

Darach Ó Séaghdha follows the artistic path of one of Ireland’s most fascinating historical women.

The Gaelic language itself depends very much on ear and rhythm, and when those who are thinking in Gaelic speak in English, they get the same rhythm.

Lady Gregory

ONE HUNDRED AND forty years ago this month, a young Galway woman called Augusta Persse married a Tory politician and landlord who was 35 years her senior.

He was known for speaking in defence of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, for introducing a notorious clause in parliament limiting access to relief during the Irish Famine, and for being the governor of Ceylon when its cash crop (coffee) failed, leading to an economic crisis there.

His name was Lord William Gregory, and Augusta would thereafter be known as Lady Gregory.

Nowadays she is far better known than her husband on account of her leading role in Irish Literary Revival, including the founding of the Abbey Theatre. But how did she step out of his shadow to become a leader who left an indelible mark on Irish culture?

Her political awakening can be traced back to a visit to Egypt with her husband shortly in the early 1880s. Prior to this, it appears she shared the imperial sympathies of her family and her husband. While in Cairo she met a poet by the name of Wilfred Scawen Blunt.

Lady Gregory - Ben Bay drawing A painting of Gregory by ‘Ben Bay’. Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

Though he came from a respectable background (old family, diplomatic career, member of the Carlton Club), Wilfred was considered a bit bohemian on account of his literary pursuits and edgy political opinions (including support for Egyptian independence and Home Rule) haunting the blur between colonial high society and the underworld of artists and radicals.

And while Lord Gregory’s interest in horses was limited to betting and losing his inherited wealth on them, Wilfred was an aficionado of equine pursuits, introducing Arabian breeds to Britain as well as keeping his own stud farm. A notorious womaniser, his modus operandi was to invite young women to the stables to meet the thoroughbreds as a pretext for seduction, and Augusta was no exception.

First writings

Before long, Augusta and Wilfred were having a passionate affair. It was during this intense period that the two first works attributed to her were produced. The first of these was “Arabi and His Family” a pamphlet defending the Egyptian rebel leader Ahmed Urabi for this part in a rising there. The pamphlet, which also ran as a letter in The Times, was well received and Urabi’s death sentence was appealed (he was merely banished instead of shot).

The second work was a body of love poetry about her affair with Wilfred. Obviously it would have been scandalous to publish such works under her own name at the time.

“A Woman’s Sonnets” was published by Wilfred himself anonymously, allowing him to take credit for the works while also being able to slyly gloat about being their subject. This probably annoyed Augusta, as did Wilfred moving on to a new romantic conquest – Jane Morris, the famous pre-Raphaelite model and wife of the painter William Morris. Nonetheless, they stayed in touch for years, including during his spell in a Galway jail for protesting an eviction there.

vtls000224826_001 A cartoon drawn by Grace Gifford Plunkett which is entitled ‘Lady Gregory sighing for new worlds to Kiltartanise’ – a reference to the version of the Hiberno-English dialect spoken around Kiltartan which Gregory used in her writings. Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

‘Kiltartanese’

While the poems in “A Woman’s Sonnets” are written in an almost Shakespearean style, she rejected this model when she returned to writing in the 1890s. Wanting to communicate the sense as well as the storylines of Irish mythology to an English-speaking audience, she used a stylised Hiberno-English in her books Cuchulain of Muirthemne and Gods and Fighting Men. She called this Kiltartanese in acknowledgement of the way the people of Kiltartan used English.

When she wrote her own version of Grania, Yeats was horrified that her take on the story of a king’s young wife falling for a young warrior was too obviously autobiographical and urged her to use her platform and wealth to promote other writers instead. And promote she did, although she continued to write prolifically.

While Kiltartanese was not the way Augusta spoke English herself, it represents the first significant attempt in print to present Irish-idiom English outside the context of ridicule, and it kicked the door down for other writers to make progress in this area, as well as creating an interested audience for the original texts themselves.

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    Mute samstheman
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    May 20th 2019, 8:08 AM

    Absolutely no place for this at any sports ground. They’re a disgrace to their county & should be barred from venues for life

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    Mute páraicS
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    May 20th 2019, 8:41 AM

    @samstheman: They were kids, give them a break.

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    Mute reg gordon
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    May 20th 2019, 8:49 AM

    @páraicS: To be fair in any other sport they would see some sort of ban. By not doing so the gaa are in some way allowing this behavior to spread.
    I’m a similar note I saw an underage hurling game on my local park whilst walking my dog where there was a proper fight on the pitch between 2 players where they had to be separated. Neither was sanctioned( or even told to shake hands afterwards) that’s really poor behavior from the coaches

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    Mute Anthony
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    May 20th 2019, 8:49 AM

    @páraicS: they weren’t ‘kids’ . Look at the footage. They were youths. And they were a disgrace. Pure thugs

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    Mute samstheman
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    May 20th 2019, 9:03 AM

    @páraicS: big enough for kids. I stand by my comment. Then they got off with a caution. Joke, interestingly if they were Dubs what would you have to say?

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    Mute thephantomshit
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    May 20th 2019, 9:15 AM

    @Anthony: what’s a youth? If I host an under 15s soccer match is it a game between a gang of youths?

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    Mute Paul Holland
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    May 20th 2019, 9:35 AM

    @páraicS: I would say the people harassed or intimidated because of their carry on also deserve a break

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    Mute Eamonn Ó Maoldomhnaigh
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    May 20th 2019, 10:12 AM

    @páraicS: Kids ? They were given Adult cautions, Kids my ass!
    Imagine the damage there could have been done by their behaviour and come back and tell us to give them a break.

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    Mute Anthony
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    May 20th 2019, 10:30 AM

    @thephantomshit: they were older than 15. Look at the footage.

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    Mute Ronan Sexton
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    May 20th 2019, 10:39 AM

    @páraicS: Nope.

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    Mute Tim Oleary
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    May 20th 2019, 11:01 AM

    @páraicS: noisy disruptive teenagers can be a nuisance at games to spectators near them needing the Guards to be called. Responsibility called for.

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    Mute John Kelly
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    May 20th 2019, 12:19 PM

    @páraicS: cops should have given both of them a good clipping. Teach them some manners.

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    Mute Richard James
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    May 20th 2019, 12:22 PM

    @páraicS: They got their break by not being charged, but why should paying spectators have to endure gobshyte behaviour from people at a match, regardless of age?

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    Mute Danny McCarthy
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    May 20th 2019, 4:12 PM

    @John Kelly: bring back nidge, they need to be clipped.
    Everyone is responsible for their own actions, I’d say their families are proud of them today. If u keep messing with fire u get burnt & these guys have a long way to go if they keep lighting fires.

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    Mute Don Dealgan
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    May 20th 2019, 8:46 PM

    @reg gordon: gaa use kid gloves wth onfield violence likewise wth thuggery on terraces

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    Mute samstheman
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    May 20th 2019, 11:17 PM

    @Don Dealgan: the GAA didn’t let them go with an “adult caution” the Gardai did

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    Mute Tim Oleary
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    May 21st 2019, 10:55 AM

    @samstheman: talk a bit of sense. Don’t be trying to excuse this rowdyism. People like you add to the problem.

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    Mute John Smith
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    May 20th 2019, 8:31 AM

    Too much Clonmel apple juice….

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    Mute Ronan Sexton
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    May 20th 2019, 10:42 AM

    There seems to be a developing culture of phuckwits in the last year at hurling matches. I was at the Limerick match yesterday and there was a gang of aroud 40 neanderthals roaring out soccer chants for the whole match. These vermin have no place at hurling games and this must be nipped in the bud now.

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    Mute Seán Ó Murchú
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    May 20th 2019, 10:56 AM

    @Ronan Sexton: People were singing songs at a match and you got upset? Think you need a new hobby.

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    Mute Ronan Sexton
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    May 20th 2019, 4:46 PM

    @Seán Ó Murchú: No Sean, are yout comprehension skills that bad? There are night classes for that.

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    Mute Adolf Galland
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    May 20th 2019, 8:29 AM

    Why were Tipp fans beating up Tipp fans????

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    Mute shellakybooky
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    May 20th 2019, 9:54 AM

    @Adolf Galland: drink

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    Mute Ed
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    May 20th 2019, 10:33 AM

    This isn’t the first time Tipperary supporters have been fighting each other at matches. There should be a ban on intoxicated people going into matches.

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    Mute Seanie Bourke
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    May 20th 2019, 2:09 PM

    @Ed: when was d other time

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    Mute Colm O'Sullivan
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    May 20th 2019, 10:34 AM

    Unbelievable they were let go.

    Their actions both warranted being charged with public order offences, the little thug on the left in the video being the chief culprit, its an assault in broad daylight with hundreds of witnesses for christ’s sake.

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    Mute tubbsyf
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    May 20th 2019, 1:57 PM

    points deduction for Tipp

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    Mute Tom49
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    May 20th 2019, 9:55 PM

    @tubbsyf: you can have 17 points of you’re from Waterford

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    Mute Liam Mc Meel
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    May 20th 2019, 10:30 AM

    Ah sure it only a bit of banter

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    Mute Ollie Watson
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    May 20th 2019, 8:11 AM

    Yup 50 year old Saracens fans Nayo

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    Mute matthew o reilly
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    May 20th 2019, 11:09 PM

    If that was the Dubs.liveline would get 2 weeks out of it

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    Mute Michael O'Driscoll
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    May 20th 2019, 6:51 PM

    Wildlings.

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