(pseudonym AE) (1867–1935), Irish poet, essayist, painter, Nationalist leader, mystic, and economist; a leader in movement for cooperation among Irish farmers; editor The Irish Statesman 1923–30 (poems: ‘The Earth-Breath', ‘Vale'; play: ‘Deirdre'; essays: ‘Imaginations and Reveries'; fantasy: ‘Avatars'); once signed himself “AEon,” but the printer could decipher only the first two letters, hence the pen name “AE”