''The Countess Cathleen'' is a verse drama by

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th century in literature, 20th-century literature. He was ...

blank verse Blank verse is poetry written with regular metre (poetry), metrical but rhyme, unrhymed lines, usually in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th cen ...

(with some lyrics). It was dedicated to Maud Gonne, the object of his affections for many years.

Editions and revisions

The play was first published in 1892 in '' The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics'' (the spelling was changed to "Cathleen" in all future editions). Its text underwent many changes until the final version performed in 1911 and published in 1912 ("a complete revision to make it suitable for performance at the Abbey Theatre" and "all but a new play", according to Yeats). The variorum editor, Russell K. Alspach, remarks, "The revision for the second printing, ''Poems'' (1895), was so drastic that intelligible collation was virtually impossible." The tendency of Yeats's changes between 1892 and 1911 has been summarized as a move "decidedly away from an almost farcical realism and tentatively toward the austere, suggestive mode of the dance plays."

Synopsis

The play is set ahistorically in Ireland during a famine. The idealistic Countess of the title sells her soul to the devil so that she can save her tenants from starvation and from damnation for having sold their own souls. After her death, she is redeemed as her motives were altruistic and ascends to Heaven.

Sources

Yeats based the play on a purported Irish legend, "The Countess Cathleen O'Shea", which had been printed in an Anglo-Irish newspaper in 1867. When he later attempted to trace its origins, the story appeared to have been adapted into English from a French story, "Les marchands d'âmes", whose protagonist was named "comtesse Ketty O'Connor". This original French version appeared in the anthology, ''Les matinées de Timothée Trimm'', by Léo Lespès without further provenance.

Performances

The play was first performed on 8 May 1899 as the Irish Literary Theatre's inaugural production, in the Antient Concert Rooms, Great Brunswick Street, Dublin. On 21 February 1911, Yeats attended an "amateurish" performance of the play by the Dramatic Society of the Norwich High School Old Girls' Association. The first performance at the Abbey Theatre, in the much-changed final version, took place on 14 December 1911. It was performed in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

in a German translation in 1934 staged by Friedrich Bethge and featuring Paul Verhoeven; the city awarded Yeats its Goethe Plaque of the City of Frankfurt for it.

Reception

Influence on Joyce

Oona's chanted song from Act II, "Who will go drive with Fergus now?" (removed from the 1911 version) made a deep impression on a seventeen-year-old

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

in Anna Mather's 1899 performance. Richard Ellmann reports that Joyce "set the poem to music and praised it as the best lyric in the world." According to Stanislaus Joyce, James sang the song at his dying brother George's request in 1902, to this chant of his own composition. In the opening episode of '' Ulysses'', Buck Mulligan chants the song and Stephen Dedalus works several variations on it ("parodically", but "not simply ... parody"). Joyce also has Stephen Dedalus recall Cathleen's dying words ("Bend down your faces, Oona and Aleel...") in '' A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man''.

Anti-English

Frederick Sefton Delmer described the play in 1911 as anti-English: "The anti-English tendency underlying the play is evident, the merchant-demons being the English landlords."

Opera

Werner Egk wrote the

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

for his 1955

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

'' Irische Legende'' based on Yeats's work."Eine kleine Nazi musik?"
by Tim Ashley, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 17 August 2001

References

Sources

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External links

* ''The Countess Cathleen''
18921895189919071912
{{DEFAULTSORT:Countess Cathleen, The Plays by W. B. Yeats 1899 plays Works based on the Faust legend Plays adapted into operas