September 1913

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What need you, being come to sense,

But fumble in a greasy till

And add the halfpence to the pence

And prayer to shivering prayer, until

You have dried the marrow from the bone;

For men were born to pray and save;

Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,

It's with O'Leary in the grave.

Yet they were of a different kind,

The names that stilled your childish play,

They have gone about the world like wind,

But little time had they to pray

For whom the hangman's rope was spun,

And what, God help us, could they save?

Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,

It's with O'Leary in the grave.

Was it for this the wild geese spread

The grey wing upon every tide;

For this that all that blood was shed,

For this Edward Fitzgerald died,

And Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone,

All that delirium of the brave?

Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,

It's with O'Leary in the grave.

Yet could we turn the years again,

And call those exiles as they were

In all their loneliness and pain,

You'd cry `Some woman's yellow hair

Has maddened every mother's son':

They weighed so lightly what they gave.

But let them be, they're dead and gone,

They're with O'Leary in the grave.

pretend to be devoted Catholics

(they wouldn't be greedy)

John O'Leary

-Fenians

-Close friends of Yeats'

force of nature / men of action

not interested in money, no time for praying - too dedicated

last powerful families fled

Edward Fitzgerald - United Irishmen

madness - obsessed with passion for Ireland

personal sacrifices

woman - Ireland

pessimistic about the future

A) Greed of the business class

'fumble in a greasy till

And add halfpence to the pence

And prayer to shivering prayer, until

You have dried the marrow from the bone?'

B) Repitition

'Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,

It's with O'Leary in the grave'

C) Pride of previous Irish patriots

'...they were of a different kind,

The names that stilled your childish play,

They have gone about the world like wind,

But little time had they to pray

For whom the hangman's rope was spun,'

'They weighed so lightly what they gave'

D) Anger

'Was it for this the wild geese spread

The grey wing upon every tide;

For this that all that blood was shed,

For this Edward Fitzgerald died,

And Robert Emmet and Wolfe tone,

All that delirium of the brave?'

E) Pessimism

'Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,

It's with O'Leary in the grave'

'But let them be, they're dead and gone,

They're with O'Leary in the grave

F) Romanticism of past Ireland

'They weighed so lightly what they gave.

All that delirium of the brave?'

'Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,

It's with O'Leary in the grave'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeGe5guvSeY (Enclavar)

September 1913

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