Easter 1916 - we see his change in viewpoint from September 1913

mixture of emotions
speaks of the same people he derided in 'September 1913' - cannot find it in his heart to criticise men who died from an 'excess of love' for their country
despite the fact the poem is about a v public event, narrated in a personal manner
"Polite meaningless words" - honesty to admit he look on these men with derision (repeated) polite tolerance
Events of Easter 1916 changed everything,
S2 focuses on the history and some of the rebels which he does not mention but name but his contemporaries would have easily recognised them
S3 contemplates the single-mindedness of thee rebels, hearts acted with 'one purpose alone' . stone = metaphor representing the rebels who wouldn't sacrifice their ideals to change. change symbolised by the "living stream"
unusual simile - yeats attempts to capture some of the tender admiration he feels for what these men have done - likens the act of pronouncing their names to that of a mother naming her child "to murmur name upon name as mother names her child"
Openly questions whether whether their deaths were "needless" - chillingly reality that these men will die.
documents Yeats difficulty in appropriating and understand the heroic deeds and terrible deaths of men and women he knew
Having disregarded Ireland of his times as unheroic, materialistic, having blind adherence to the Catholic Church, forced to re-avaluate, acknowledge some of the bravery present in his contemporaries
oxymoron - terrible beauty
Describes Constance Gore-Booth - believes intentions were good, if misguided. "ignorant" "her voice grew shrill" - unflattering, hysteria to get views across, "when young and beautiful" - preferred her to remain a symbol of beauty, aristocratic lifestyle
Final person he describes - John MacBride, Yeats infatuated w Maud Gonne, "most bitter wrong to some who are near to my heart" - "resigned his part in the casual comedy" transformed also
section 3 analyses the mentally of those willing to lay down their lives for a single cause "one purpose alone"
final section - "o may it suffice' heartfelt exclamation of sorrow and despair - stark reality of their deaths
Names rebels as he named great figures in "September 1913" preserving their names in 'verse' "MacDonagh and MacBride And Connolly and Pearse" - have restored the posilibity of greatness in ireland, also exposed unpleasant reality of heroic violence
short lines prevents poem from being too sentimental - condensed

	Created by niamhmoynagh about 10 years ago

Note on Untitled, created by niamhmoynagh on 25/01/2014.

Untitled