achieved enduring popularity and has often been reprinted. Stephens began his career as a poet under the tutelage of poet and painter Æ (George William Russell). Stephens's first book of poems, Insurrections, was published in 1909. His last book, Kings and the Moon (1938), was also a volume of verse. Stephens's influential account of the 1916 Easter Rising, Insurrection in Dublin, describes the effect of the deaths by execution of his friend Thomas MacDonagh and others as being "like watching blood oozing from under a door". Of MacDonagh he wrote: No person living is the worse off for having known Thomas MacDonagh, and I, at least, have never heard MacDonagh speak unkindly or even harshly of anything that lived. It has been said of him that his lyrics were epical; in a measure it is true, and it is true in the same measure that his death was epical. He was the first of the leaders who was tried and shot. James Joyce Stephens later lived between Paris, London and Dublin. During the 1930s he was a friend of James Joyce, and they wrongly believed that they shared a birthday. Joyce, who was concerned about his ability to finish what later became Finnegans Wake, proposed that Stephens assist him, with the authorship credited to JJ & S (for "Jameses Joyce & Stephens", but also a pun on the popular Jameson Irish whiskey, made by John Jameson & Sons). The plan was never implemented, as Joyce was able to complete the work on his own. Late life During the last decade of his life Stephens found a new audience through a series of broadcasts on the BBC. Timeline 1880 (9 February) Possible date of birth of James Stephens in Dublin. 1882 (2 February) Date of birth used by Stephens. 1886–96 Attended Meath Protestant Industrial School for Boys. 1896 Employed as a clerk by a Dublin solicitor, a Mr Wallace. 1901 Member of a gymnastic team that won the Irish Shield. Employed by Reddington & Sainsbury, solicitors. 1906 Employed as a clerk-typist in the office of TT Mecredy & Son, solicitors. 1907 Began making regular contributions to Sinn Féin magazine. Birth of stepdaughter, Iris, on 14 June; soon afterwards he announced that he had a wife, Cynthia (Millicent Josephine Gardiner Kavanagh, 22 May 1882 – 18 December 1960). Discovered by George W Russell (Æ). 1909 Published poetry collection Insurrections. Acted in the