Journal of Modern Literature

In the Irish National Theatre’s little magazine, The Arrow, William Butler Yeats manipulated the public debate regarding George Bernard Shaw’s play, The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, to position the National Theatre at the center of nationalist movement. The result was a masterful display of political acumen that advocated the following principles: The Irish are a rational and intellectual people who possess the ability to participate in a measured and deliberate debate. They support the free expression of ideas and their authority comes from a consensus derived from discussion rather than by decree from the Crown or its representatives in the censor’s office or in Dublin Castle. The Arrow put forward these ideas and framed the oppositions’ ideals in such a way as to place the National Theatre at the center of the debate regarding Shaw’s play but also in a position of leadership within the Nationalist movement.