Easter 1916
Easter 1916: A Blessing and a Curse
In “Easter 1916”, the importance of the Irish rebellion is highlighted by sad anecdotes and strong metaphors. William Butler Yeats uses his words wisely to create a story for the audience to follow. This story, however, though it may seem like a poem of triumph and independence from Britain, is gruesome and upsetting. Many Irish lives were lost in achieving peace for Ireland and Yeats helps the reader realize this through his poem.
Yeats emphasizes the independence the Irish rebellion brought, while making the reader feel sympathy towards the rebels who lost their lives for the cause. Three of the four stanzas in “Easter 1916” end with “A terrible beauty is born.” Yeats creates an oxymoron to remind the reader that while the rebellion brought social rebirth to the people of Ireland, many lives were tragically lost in achieving independence from the British. By reminding the reader that the rebellion was a gain that also brought loss, Yeats powerfully makes the audience feel torn between believing that the confrontation between the Irish and the British was a good idea and that it was not.
In the poem, Yeats creates a connection between the speaker and the rebels to make the audience feel that the rebels were simply ordinary people who lived ordinary lives. Yeats writes in the beginning of the first stanza, “I HAVE met them at the close of day / Coming with vivid faces / From counter or desk among grey / Eighteenth-century houses / I have passed with a nod of the head / Or polite meaningless words / Or have lingered awhile and said / Polite meaningless words.” In this phrase the speaker tells the audience how the rebels were simple people that he or she passed on the street. By doing this, Yeats makes the audience ponder why simple people ever did so much to change the course of history. Yeats makes the reader feel scared for his or her own fate by making the reader wonder if that could ever happen to him or her if they
In “Easter 1916”, the importance of the Irish rebellion is highlighted by sad anecdotes and strong metaphors. William Butler Yeats uses his words wisely to create a story for the audience to follow. This story, however, though it may seem like a poem of triumph and independence from Britain, is gruesome and upsetting. Many Irish lives were lost in achieving peace for Ireland and Yeats helps the reader realize this through his poem.
Yeats emphasizes the independence the Irish rebellion brought, while making the reader feel sympathy towards the rebels who lost their lives for the cause. Three of the four stanzas in “Easter 1916” end with “A terrible beauty is born.” Yeats creates an oxymoron to remind the reader that while the rebellion brought social rebirth to the people of Ireland, many lives were tragically lost in achieving independence from the British. By reminding the reader that the rebellion was a gain that also brought loss, Yeats powerfully makes the audience feel torn between believing that the confrontation between the Irish and the British was a good idea and that it was not.
In the poem, Yeats creates a connection between the speaker and the rebels to make the audience feel that the rebels were simply ordinary people who lived ordinary lives. Yeats writes in the beginning of the first stanza, “I HAVE met them at the close of day / Coming with vivid faces / From counter or desk among grey / Eighteenth-century houses / I have passed with a nod of the head / Or polite meaningless words / Or have lingered awhile and said / Polite meaningless words.” In this phrase the speaker tells the audience how the rebels were simple people that he or she passed on the street. By doing this, Yeats makes the audience ponder why simple people ever did so much to change the course of history. Yeats makes the reader feel scared for his or her own fate by making the reader wonder if that could ever happen to him or her if they