Easter, 1916 by W. B. Yeats (Analysis)

 

Easter, 1916

by W. B. Yeats

(Analysis) 

Yeats’ poem entitled Easter 1916 is one of the three well known poems which contain his reaction to the Easter Uprising in Dublin of 1916. The Irish Nationalist Movement, for Home Rule in Ireland began in 1870s, and continued till 1919. But there were two forces behind the movement. There were the pacifists who ran the movement through democratic and peaceful means. W. B. Yeats and many other men of letters were under the banner of pacifists. At the earlier stage their leaders were Charles Stewart Parnell (1846—1891) and John O’ Leary. The other force consisted of the hawks believed in the efficacy of violence and weapons. Yeats’ beloved, Maud Gonne, and many of his friends and acquaintances were among the hawks. All of them were in favour of violent action. During the years between 1908 and 1914 Yeats had become disillusioned with Irish politics and politicians because of their pettiness. He had also developed a dislike for the Irish masses. But when in 1916 the Easter uprising took place in Dublin, he was amazed with wonder. He felt in his heart a storm of admiration for the revolutionaries, who were executed. So he composed the poem on 25 September 1916.

The Uprising of 1916

The present poem contains the poet’s tribute to their brave sacrifice. It is, however, necessary to describe here the nature of their action in order to understand the spirit of the poet’s tribute to their sacrifice. In 1914 the First World War (1914—1918) broke out. In order to win the support of the Irish people against Germany, the British Govt. promised to grant Home Rule to Ireland. It was to be granted to her after the war. The peace-loving nationalists accepted the offer. But the revolutionaries did not accept it and began to wait for an opportunity to rise against the Govt. Then in the morning of Easter, 1916, a few hundreds of them captured almost the whole of the city of Dublin. By the evening they set up their own provisional government of Ireland. They also declared Ireland a democratic republic. The people also supported them. But the British armies captured the city again within the Easter week. Most of the revolutionaries were caught. Then they were tried by a military court and sixteen of them were executed.

The Poetic Thought

The poet says that some of the revolutionaries were his acquaintances. In the pre-uprising days, he would meet them in the street in the evening. They would return from their shops, offices, etc. He would pass by them and accept their polite wishing, with a nod or he would wish them with meaningless polite words. Some of them were members of the club he was member of. And in the club, he would tell them a mocking tale, or make fun of somebody else’s claim, to entertain them. At the time, he and they lived a life of clownish, non-serious, nationalists. But on Easter Day of 1916 their behaviour changed entirely, and put on a form of terrible beauty. Among them, there was a woman. Her name was Constance Markiewiez. She was a plain hearted, benevolent, woman in her youth. She was a beautiful girl with sweet voice. She was a good rider and hunter. In the club, she would argue in favour of Home Rule for Ireland. When the uprising took place, she raised patriotic slogans so much that her voice went hoarse.

Another revolutionary the poet was familiar with was Patrick Pearse. He was a schoolmaster and poet. The third revolutionary known to the poet was Thomas Mac Donagh. He was a poet of great promise and also critic. The fourth man was John Mac Bride. He was the poet’s rival in love [and succeeded in marrying Maud Gonne in 1903]. The poet thought him to be a worthless boaster. He also wronged Maud Gonne by quarrelling with her and leaving her. But on Easter Day he behaved so bravely and selflessly that the poet considers him worthy to be described in the present poem.

Now, all of them, except the woman, were tried [by a military court] and were shot dead. Their hearts were filled with one purpose. It was to win freedom for Ireland. Their devotion to this cause was much too sincere. It inspired them to check the flow of the stream in Dublin of the British rule, as a stone-wall across it. Things and beings around them changed with the passing of time every minute. But their purpose was unchanged. Even when the British forces surrounded and captured Dublin in the Easter week, they did not change their resolution in fear of their life. In the midst of the British cavalry men, they were as firm as a stone.

The long period of the Nationalist Movement had made them stone-hearted. Then they were executed. Was their sacrifice unnecessary? If the British Govt. fulfils their promise and grants Home Rule to Ireland after the war their sacrifice may prove unnecessary. But their dream was noble. Their sacrifice will therefore noble in every condition whatever. So it is unnecessary to argue that their excessive patriotism destroyed their reason and led them to death. The poet celebrates their noble sacrifice in this poem. Mac Donagh, Mac Bride, Connolly and Pearse, together with their companions—all, of them have become immortal by their martyrdom. They are, and will be, honored throughout Ireland, as great martyrs for the cause of Irish freedom. Out of their sacrifice, ‘a terrible beauty is born.’

Metre and Rhythm

The poem has been composed in iambic tetrameters and tri-meters. The first verse is an iambic tetrameter, the second, an iambic trimeter. The third is again an iambic tetrameter and the fourth, a trimeter, and so on. There are extra syllables at the end of verses, here and there. On the whole, the metre is ballad metre of iambic features. The rhythm is ascending, having variety here and there. The sentence “A terrible beauty is born” is repeated in the poem at three places, as if it were a refrain. Here, and in a good number of other verses, the rhythm is sweet and striking.

Imagery

The poetic feeling is genuine and sincere. It is invested with the intensity of an emotion. The poetic emotion is excited in the poet by the extraordinary courage and exceptional behaviour shown on Easter Day by the revolutionaries. They were only a few hundred. Yet they fell on the forces of the mightiest empire in the world. His amazement is heightened by the fact that in the pre-Uprising days “they lived where motley is’ worn”, that is, they behaved like ordinary people. But on Easter Day,

All changed, changed utterly;

A terrible beauty is born.

The poem has two striking images. In one, the revolutionaries are represented as a barrier of stone risen to stop up the flow of a living stream. And the stream is that of the British imperialism ruling over Dublin. The image is fresh, striking, and probably original. In the second image, Irish life has been represented as a stream and the revolutionaries as rocks, or big pieces of stone lying in the stream. If a horse’s hoof slips down the brink of a moorland stream, the water birds sitting along the brink jump into the stream and dive. They also make a lot of noise. Likewise, when the cavalry men of the British brigades entered the stream of Irish life after the uprising, there was a lot of hue and cry. But the revolutionaries, being the pieces of stone in the stream, remained still and firm. Other images belong to the visual imagination. But “terrible beauty” is a symbol which represents the revolutionaries’ behaviour as full of “terrible beauty.”

Diction and Style

The diction of the poem is simple and modern, devoid of all decorations. “The diction”, writes one critic, “is almost bare and unobtrusive. The words seem to be the components of a picture or of a great building.” The majority of the words is that of monosyllabic, and bisyllabic words. Polysyllabic words are few, and far between. They are also simple such as “companion”, “meaningless”, “sensitive”, etc. They are also sweet sounding, as “casual comedy,” The style of the poem is realistic and lyrical with an undercurrent of romanticism.

To conclude, Easter 1916 is a remarkable lyric of unadorned beauty. It belongs to the period of the poet’s maturity. So he does not describe the revolutionaries’ behaviour plainly and in terms of action. He employs symbols and antithetical words, such as “terrible” and “beauty”, ‘stream” and “stone”, “shrill” and “sweet”, etc.