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black and white photography of a castle and road with stone wall leading to castle
Thoor Ballylee
sepia photograph of Coole Manor

Section 7: They Came Like Swallows

Lady Gregory's Journals written 1916–32; published 1978 and 1987 chart her literary work and friendships of the period in extraordinary detail and show her political acuity and resilient optimism amidst the violence leading up to the foundation of the Irish Free State. She was nominated to be a senator in the new government in 1923 but was not elected. After two decades as Gregory's regular guest at Coole, Yeats finally married. His changed circumstances inevitably reduced Gregory's close and regular involvement in his life, though his poetic celebrations of her and Coole became more intense and elegiac with his greater independence. ''They came like swallows and like swallows went," he wrote of her numerous literary visitors. This was in part in response to Gregory's aging and to Yeats's increasing recognition that Coole might soon be lost. Margaret Gregory, Robert's widow and owner of the estate since Robert's death, was determined to sell, but Lady Gregory agreed to take over running expenses so that she could remain.

Items in Section 7: They Came Like Swallows

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  • sepia photograph of Coole Manor

    Section 7: They Came Like Swallows Introduction

  • black and white photography of a castle and road with stone wall leading to castle

    Thoor Ballylee

  • typed letter on Coole Park letterhead

    Yeats's roofless castle

  • blueish-green book cover with geometric gold imprint which includes swans flying at top and bottom of cover

    The Wild Swans at Coole

  • typed journal entry

    Lady Gregory as Cathleen ni Houlihan

  • black and white photograph of older woman in black robe on left with kneeling man in front of her with white shirt on right of image

    Playing Cathleen ni Houlihan

  • Printed braodside on green paper, titled "The Abbey Theatre Dublin"

    Annie Horniman and The Abbey

  • sepia photograph of Coole Manor

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