Reading Notes Week 13A: Yeats Easter 1916

Easter 1916 by William Butler Yeats, Pages 522-524

"On Easter Sunday 1916, Irish Nationalists began an unsuccessful rebellion against British rule, which lasted throughout the week and ended in the surrender and execution of its leaders" (522).

This story poem was written during the beginning of WW1.  I would assume the setting of the story is somewhere in Ireland.

In the first stanza, it seems like a happy, joyous stroll down the street.  "i have passed with a nod of the head or polite meaningless words, or have lingered awhile and said polite meaningless words"

In the second stanza, the poem talks about the passing of the some people.  The first is a woman, "that woman's days were spent in ignorant good-will, her nights in argument until her voice grew shrill" (523). The death of two men (Patrick and Thomas) "was coming into his force; He might have won fame in the end, So sensitive his nature seemed, so daring and sweet his thought" (523)

The third stanza, he is describing heaven. "the horse that comes down the road, the rider, the birds that range from cloud to tumbling cloud" (523)

The fourth stanza, he questions whether the British execution of the Irish leaders was necessary or even justified. "was it a needless death after all?" (524).