A.E.

A.E.

(pen name of George William Russell, 1867 - 1935) Irish poet, painter, and journalist. An ardent social idealist, Russell was an active member of the Irish nationalist movement and the agricultural cooperative movement. Together with W. B. Yeats, he was one of the leading lights of the Irish Renaissance and was associated with the founding of the Dublin Lodge of the Theosophical Society for occult study (see Mme Blavatsky ). His mystical poetry, in such volumes as Homeward: Songs by the Way (1894), The Earth Breath (1897), Divine Vision (1904), and House of the Titans (1934), is based on visions, magic, and Eastern religious ideas. He wrote of these interests in Candle of Vision (1918). His verse play, Deirdre (1906), was one of the early productions of the Irish National Theatre Society at the Abbey Theatre.

The Living Torch (1937) is a collection of prose writings. His Letters were published in 1961.