SNIPPET: In Ireland Dublin-born poet and playwright William Butler YEATS and his friend authoress Lady Augusta GREGORY were to lead the Celtic literary revival. Their goal was to rekindle interest in the Irish language and cultural roots. Their efforts resulted in the formation of an Irish national theatre, eventually to become the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Born Augusta PERSSE, from a Galway landowning family, she married William GREGORY in 1880. After his death she administered his estate at Coole Park, Co. Galway, for their son and developed nationalist sympathies. Coole became a centre of the Irish literary revival through her friendship with YEATS, who encouraged her interest in folklore. She wrote several plays, and her history of the Abbey theatre and posthumous autobiography and journals are significant sources for the history of the literary revival. It is said that her grandmotherly, slightly condescending image disguised her stature and individuality. An example of YEATS poetry is his lovely, "The Wild Swans at Coole" -- "The trees are in their autumn beauty/The woodland paths are dry/Under the October twilight the water/Mirrors a still sky/Upon the brimming water among the stones/Are nine-and-fifty swans/The nineteeth autumn has come upon me/Since I first made my count/I saw, before I had well finished/All suddenly mount/And scatter wheeling in great broken rings/Upon their clamorous wings/I have looked upon those brilliant creatures/And now my heart is sore/All's changed since I, hearing at twilight/The first time on this shore/The bell-beat of their wings above my head/Trod with a lighter tread/Unwearied still, lover by lover/They paddle in the cold/Companionable streams or climb the air/Their hearts have not grown cold/Passion or conquest, wander where they will/Attend upon them still." YEATS encouraged author J. M. SYNGE to go to the Aran Islands and write about the life of the inhabitants. His "Riders to the Sea," written after his stay on Inishmore island, was presented at the Abbey Theatre to critical acclaim, although his "Playboy of the Western World" caused an uproar when it was presented. Sean O'CASEY's "The Plough and the Stars," set in Dublin at the time of the 1916 Easter Rising, was also presented at the Abbey Theatre. YEATS responded to an opening night riot by admonishing the audience: "Is this going to be a recurring celebration of Irish genius: SYNGE first and then O'CASEY?" One of the most significant events of 20th century Ireland was the 1916 Easter Rising. Patrick PEARSE, one of the leaders, read aloud the Proclamation of the Provincial Government from the steps of the general post office in Dublin, calling on all Irish men and women to fight for freedom from British rule. After six days of fighting, in which several hundred people were killed, the leaders of the Rising were arrested and then executed a few weeks later at Kilmainhaim Jail, thus securing their places in the Irish memory forever, and recreating the tradition of Cuchulainn and the belief that "better is short life with honor than long life with dishonor." A magnificient bronze statue of the dying mythic Cuchulainn was later erected in the general post office to commemorate the young martyrs. Many of the 20th century writers, including among others, Patrick KAVANAGH, John MONTAGUE, Seamus HEANEY, Sean O'FAOLAIN, and Ms. EAVAN BOLAND draw from historical images in their work, images of landscapes of the past. Ita DALY's poignant story, "The Lady with the Red Shoes": isolates the long-term effect of the past on her characters - both the observer and the observed.