It seems to be fairly generally agreed that somewhere between 1890 and 1920 there was an Irish Literary Revival or Renaissance which somehow assisted at the violent and difficult birth of the modern Irish nation, formally inaugurated with the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), poet and dramatist, is acknowledged as the presiding genius of the movement, ably supported by a galaxy of attendant spirits, notably Douglas Hyde (1860-1949), Lady Gregory (1852-1932), J.M. Synge (1871-1909), George Moore (18521933) and George Russell (‘AE’) (1867-1935). This construction, however, is still open to critical discussion.