Russell, George [William] (pseudonym ‘AE’ from Greek ‘Æon’) (1867-1935), poet, mystic, social reformer; born in Lurgan, Co. Armagh. The family moved to Dublin in 1878, and he was educated at Rathmines School and the Metropolitan School of Art, where he met W. B. Yeats. From 1884, when he began to experience waking visions, he became increasingly involved in spiritual research. His first collection of poetry, Homeward: Songs by the Way (1894), contained ethereal poems, intent on evoking spiritual and contemplative states. His other collections continued more or less in this vein, and include The Earth Breath and Other Poems (1897), The Divine Vision and Other Poems (1904), and Collected Poems (1913). In 1897 Russell joined Sir Horace Plunkett's Irish Agricultural Organization Society (IAOS), supervising the setting-up of co-operative banks in the west of Ireland. His version of Deirdre (1902), performed by the Abbey Theatre's precursor, had Constance Markievicz in the title-role. He edited The Irish Homestead, the journal of the IAOS, 1905-23, using its columns to encourage many young writers, including Padraic Colum, Seumas O'Sullivan, and Eva Gore-Booth. In ‘On Behalf of Some Irishmen Not Followers of Tradition’, he attacked the deployment of myth to enlist nationalist feelings, a poem fiercely criticized by Joseph Mary Plunkett in 1913. In that year he supported the Dublin Strikers during the Lock-out [see James Larkin]. The outbreak of the First World War seemed to confirm man's severance from the sources of wisdom, and Gods of War, With Other Poems (1915) challenges the prevailing war fever. The National Being (1916) presents a synthesis of his ideas on non-militant nationalism, spiritual concerns, and idealistic principles. Other prose works include The Candle of Vision (1918), a collection of essays describing his inner life. Two novels, The Interpreters (1922) and The Avatars (1933), outline his spiritual message. In 1922 he became editor of The Irish Statesman, which incorporated The Irish Homestead, and continued in that role until 1930. He went on writing poems and prose, publishing collections such as Enchantment and Other Poems (1930) and The House of the Titans and Other Poems (1934). The prose work, Song and Its Fountains (1932), continues the enquiry begun in The Candle of Vision. Escaping from a ‘nation run by louts’ he went to live in England after 1933, first in London and then in Bournemouth.

Bibliography

Henry Summerfield, That Myriad-Minded Man: A Biography of G. W. Russell, ‘AE’ (1975).

pseud. A. E., 1867–1935, Irish author, b. Lurgan, educated in Dublin. An active member of the Irish nationalist movement, he edited the Irish Homestead (1904–23) and the Irish Statesman (1923–30). He worked with Sir Horace Plunkett for Irish agricultural improvement, and he was also a talented amateur painter and a renowned conversationalist. Russell was one of the major writers in the Irish literary renaissance. His poems and plays are noted for their mystical tone, their delicate melodious style, and their view of humanity's spiritual nature. Among his works are Homeward: Songs by the Way (1894), The Candle of Vision (1918), and Selected Poems (1935).

Bibliography

See his prose collection The Living Torch (ed. by M. Gibbons, 1937); memoir by J. Eglinton (1937).

(Pen name “A.E.”) 1867–1935.

Irish writer and nationalist who was a leader of the Irish literary renaissance at the turn of the 20th century.

(1867-1935)

Irish poet, essayist, and mystic, who wrote under the pseudonym "AE." Born April 10, 1867, at Lurgan, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, his family moved to Dublin when he was ten, where he was able to attend Rathmines School. He had a natural talent for painting and attended the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin, where he met William Butler Yeats, who introduced him to Theosophy. At that time, Russell earned his living by working as a clerk and soon began contributing poems and articles to The Irish Theosophist.

Theosophical teachings and the literature of Hindu philosophy opened his mind to heightened consciousness of Celtic myth and nature spirits. He painted visionary pictures of the Irish landscape.

He felt a strange impulse to call one of his paintings "The Birth of Aeon," a Gnostic concept, and signed one of his articles "AEON." A proof reader rendered this as "AE-?" and thereafter Russell used the initials for his poems. In 1894 he allowed some of his poems to be published as a book, Homeward: Songs of the Way, and the response thrust him to the fore of Ireland's literary community. In 1913 the first edition of his collected poems was published.

He also wrote many political articles and became organizer for the Irish Agriculture Organization, successfully combining his mystical visions with everyday practical tasks, in the spirit of the ancient Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, a work which greatly impressed him. He edited the Irish Homestead for the Organization from 1906 to 1923. In 1923 he became the editor of the Irish Statesman in which he tried to steer a moderate course for the newly founded Irish Free States. He gave expression to his political idealism in two novels, The Interpreters (1922) and The Avatars (1932). His major mystical book was The Candle of Vision (1918). His book Song and Its Fountains (1932) developed the mystical meditations of Candle of Vision and spoke of poetry as "oracles breathed from inner to outer being." The Avatars: A Futurist Fantasy (1933) indicated his debt to Hindu philosophy. Russell died July 17, 1935.

Sources:

AE [George Russell]. The Candle of Vision. 1918. Reprint, New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1965.

——. Homeward: Songs of the Way. Portland, Maine: T. B. Mosher, 1895.

——. The Interpreters. New York: Macmillian, 1922.

——. Song and Its Foundations. New York; London, Macmillian, 1932.

de Zirkoff, Boris, comp. "General Bibliography with Selected Biographical Notes." In Collected Writings. Vol XII. by H. P. Blavatsky. Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Publishing House,1980.

Denson, Alan. Printed writings of George W. Russell (AE): A Bibliography. London: Northwestern University Press, 1961.

Eglinton, John. A Memoir of AE: George William Russell. London: Macmillian, 1937.

Merchant, Francis. A.E.: An Irish Promethean. Columbia, S.C.: Benedict College Press, 1954.

Quotes:

"Any relations in a social order will endure, if there is infused into them some of that spirit of human sympathy which qualifies life for immortality."

"And see the confluence of dreamsThat clashed together in our night,One river born of many streamsRoll in one blaze of blinding light!"

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