The Pot of Broth

Born and educated in Dublin, Ireland, William Butler Yeats discovered early in his literary career a fascination with Irish folklore and the occult. Yeats felt an internal struggle with the contradictions he saw between his nature and life, and spent much of his life seeking out a philosophical system to resolve this conflict. He came to prominence during a tumultuous period in Irish history, and he struggled with the idea of an independent Irish identity. In 1899 Yeats helped found the Irish National Theatre Society, which later became the famous Abbey Theatre of Dublin. He and Lady Augusta Gregory, another of the theatre's founders, collaborated on a few short plays during those first experimental years at the theatre. One such play, "The Pot of Broth", is a "peasant" farce that tells the story of a gullible peasant woman, convinced by a tramp that dropping a magic stone into hot water will make a wonderful soup.