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Yeats’s poem is a response to the Easter Uprising in Ireland, a rebellion that eventually led to the Irish War for Independence and the Irish Civil War. Think about how the poem commemorates, fails to celebrate, and/or eulogizes the event.
“Easter, 1916” reverberates with other famous single poems in the book: “The Second Coming” and “A Prayer for My Daughter,” both of which juxtapose birth and apocalypse, mythical order and historical bloodshed, and it appears directly before Yeats’s other poems about the Rebellion: “Sixteen Dead Men,” “The Rose Tree,” and ...
- Summary
- Analysis of Easter, 1916
- Poetic Form
- About William Butler Yeats
Easter, 1916 opens with Yeats remembering the rebels as he passed them on the street. Before the Rising, they were just ordinary people who worked in shops and offices. He remembers his childhood friend Constance Markievicz, who is “that woman”; the Irish language teacher Padraic Pearse, who “kept a school” called St. Enda’s; the poet Thomas MacDon...
Stanza One
The first stanzadescribes Dublin, where the revolutionaries lived and worked. Dublin is known for its “eighteenth-century houses,” rows of connected and identical four-story brick homes, each doorway made distinctive by “fan light” windows. Yeats himself lived in one such house, at 82 Merrion Square. In this stanza of Easter, 1916 not much happens other than remembering how he and the rebels exchanged pleasantries on the street or talked at the “club.” The club was a traditional gentleman’s s...
Stanza Two
In the second stanza of Easter, 1916, Yeats begins to name the rebels by their social roles. Their names will be listed directly in the fourth and final stanza of the poem. The people Yeats mentions in the text are actual historical figures. He remembers that Constance Markievicz, one of the leaders of the Easter Uprising. She is known to have designed the Citizen Army uniform. He states that she was sweeter before arguing for Irish independence. This is seen through the second instance of me...
Stanza Three
The third stanza of Easter, 1916 introduces an extended pastoralmetaphor. The rebels have hardened their hearts against the English, and have focused on “one purpose”—armed rebellion. The hearts of these rebels are compared to a stone that “troubles” a stream of history. Not only are the hearts representative of the entire person, but they are also referred to as stones. They are immovable, dedicated to one purpose. It is at this point that Yeats changes his tone towards the rebels. They are...
The stanzas ofEaster, 1916 intentionally have an irregular line length and meter. Stanzas 1 and 3 are divided into 16 lines, representing both the year 1916 and the 16 men who were executed after the Easter Rising. These stanzas also are scenic in character, invoking the landscape of Dublin city and the surrounding Irish countryside. Stanzas 2 and ...
William Butler Yeats(1865-1939) was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. He was considered Anglo-Irish, descending from English Protestant settlers. Considered one of the twentieth century’s great poets and visionaries, Yeats won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. Yeats knew many of the rebels involved in the Easter Rising. He himself was in En...
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"Easter, 1916," was written by the Irish poet W.B. Yeats to commemorate the Easter Rising in 1916, in which Irish nationalists led a rebellion to win independence from British rule. The leaders of the Rising were ultimately executed, and Yeats's poem balances critique of the rebellion and its political extremism with admiration for the rebels ...
- “The Second Coming” Summary.
- “The Second Coming” Themes. Civilization, Chaos, and Control. See where this theme is active in the poem. Morality and Christianity.
- Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Second Coming” Lines 1-2. Turning and turning in the widening gyre. The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Lines 3-6.
- “The Second Coming” Symbols. The Falcon. See where this symbol appears in the poem. The Beast.
Easter, 1916 Lyrics. I have met them at 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 ...
Apr 23, 2018 · Analysis. In ‘Easter 1916’, Yeats refers to a number of key figures in the struggle for Irish independence, although without naming them, so the poem requires a bit of analysis and context.
