The
principal
difficulty with
the form of dramatic structure I have adopted is that, unlike the loose
Elizabethan form, it continually forces one by its rigour of logic away
from one's capacities, experiences, and desires, until, if one have
not patience to wait for the mood, or to rewrite again and again till
it comes, there is rhetoric and logic and dry circumstance where there
should be life.
the form of dramatic structure I have adopted is that, unlike the loose
Elizabethan form, it continually forces one by its rigour of logic away
from one's capacities, experiences, and desires, until, if one have
not patience to wait for the mood, or to rewrite again and again till
it comes, there is rhetoric and logic and dry circumstance where there
should be life.
Yeats
O ancient worm,
Dragon that loved the world and held us to it,
You are broken, you are broken. The world drifts away,
And I am left alone with my beloved,
Who cannot put me from his sight for ever.
We are alone for ever, and I laugh,
Forgael, because you cannot put me from you.
The mist has covered the heavens, and you and I
Shall be alone for ever. We two--this crown--
I half remember. It has been in my dreams.
Bend lower, O king, that I may crown you with it.
O flower of the branch, O bird among the leaves,
O silver fish that my two hands have taken
Out of the running stream, O morning star,
Trembling in the blue heavens like a white fawn
Upon the misty border of the wood,
Bend lower, that I may cover you with my hair,
For we will gaze upon this world no longer.
[_The harp begins to burn as with fire. _]
_Forgael_ [_gathering DECTORA'S hair about him_].
Beloved, having dragged the net about us,
And knitted mesh to mesh, we grow immortal;
And that old harp awakens of itself
To cry aloud to the grey birds, and dreams,
That have had dreams for father, live in us.
APPENDIX II.
A DIFFERENT VERSION OF DEIRDRE'S ENTRANCE.
After the first performance of this play in the autumn of 1906, I
rewrote the play up to the opening of the scene where Naisi and Deirdre
play chess. The new version was played in the spring of 1907, and after
that I rewrote from the entrance of Deirdre to her questioning the
musicians, but felt, though despairing of setting it right, that it was
still mere bones, mere dramatic logic.
The principal difficulty with
the form of dramatic structure I have adopted is that, unlike the loose
Elizabethan form, it continually forces one by its rigour of logic away
from one's capacities, experiences, and desires, until, if one have
not patience to wait for the mood, or to rewrite again and again till
it comes, there is rhetoric and logic and dry circumstance where there
should be life. After the version printed in the text of this book had
gone to press, Mrs. Patrick Campbell came to our Abbey Theatre and,
liking what she saw there, offered to come and play Deirdre among us
next November, and this so stirred my imagination that the scene came
right in a moment. It needs some changes in the stage directions at the
beginning of the play. There is no longer need for loaf and flagon, but
the women at the braziers should when the curtain rises be arraying
themselves--the one holding a mirror for the other perhaps. The play
then goes on unchanged till the entrance of Deirdre, when the following
scene is substituted for that on pages 139-140. (Bodb is pronounced
Bove. )
_DEIRDRE, NAISI and FERGUS enter. DEIRDRE is carrying
a little embroidered bag. She goes over towards the
women. _
DEIRDRE.
Silence your music, though I thank you for it;
But the wind's blown upon my hair, and I
Must set the jewels on my neck and head
For one that's coming.
NAISI.
Your colour has all gone
As 'twere with fear, and there's no cause for that.
DEIRDRE.
These women have the raddle that they use
To make them brave and confident, although
Dread, toil or cold may chill the blood o' their cheeks.
Dragon that loved the world and held us to it,
You are broken, you are broken. The world drifts away,
And I am left alone with my beloved,
Who cannot put me from his sight for ever.
We are alone for ever, and I laugh,
Forgael, because you cannot put me from you.
The mist has covered the heavens, and you and I
Shall be alone for ever. We two--this crown--
I half remember. It has been in my dreams.
Bend lower, O king, that I may crown you with it.
O flower of the branch, O bird among the leaves,
O silver fish that my two hands have taken
Out of the running stream, O morning star,
Trembling in the blue heavens like a white fawn
Upon the misty border of the wood,
Bend lower, that I may cover you with my hair,
For we will gaze upon this world no longer.
[_The harp begins to burn as with fire. _]
_Forgael_ [_gathering DECTORA'S hair about him_].
Beloved, having dragged the net about us,
And knitted mesh to mesh, we grow immortal;
And that old harp awakens of itself
To cry aloud to the grey birds, and dreams,
That have had dreams for father, live in us.
APPENDIX II.
A DIFFERENT VERSION OF DEIRDRE'S ENTRANCE.
After the first performance of this play in the autumn of 1906, I
rewrote the play up to the opening of the scene where Naisi and Deirdre
play chess. The new version was played in the spring of 1907, and after
that I rewrote from the entrance of Deirdre to her questioning the
musicians, but felt, though despairing of setting it right, that it was
still mere bones, mere dramatic logic.
The principal difficulty with
the form of dramatic structure I have adopted is that, unlike the loose
Elizabethan form, it continually forces one by its rigour of logic away
from one's capacities, experiences, and desires, until, if one have
not patience to wait for the mood, or to rewrite again and again till
it comes, there is rhetoric and logic and dry circumstance where there
should be life. After the version printed in the text of this book had
gone to press, Mrs. Patrick Campbell came to our Abbey Theatre and,
liking what she saw there, offered to come and play Deirdre among us
next November, and this so stirred my imagination that the scene came
right in a moment. It needs some changes in the stage directions at the
beginning of the play. There is no longer need for loaf and flagon, but
the women at the braziers should when the curtain rises be arraying
themselves--the one holding a mirror for the other perhaps. The play
then goes on unchanged till the entrance of Deirdre, when the following
scene is substituted for that on pages 139-140. (Bodb is pronounced
Bove. )
_DEIRDRE, NAISI and FERGUS enter. DEIRDRE is carrying
a little embroidered bag. She goes over towards the
women. _
DEIRDRE.
Silence your music, though I thank you for it;
But the wind's blown upon my hair, and I
Must set the jewels on my neck and head
For one that's coming.
NAISI.
Your colour has all gone
As 'twere with fear, and there's no cause for that.
DEIRDRE.
These women have the raddle that they use
To make them brave and confident, although
Dread, toil or cold may chill the blood o' their cheeks.
