Easter 1916

Analysis by: Sarah Phillips

William Butler Yeat’s Easter 1916 is, in general, is the poet’s reflections on the Easter Rising that took place in Ireland against the British rule on Easter Sunday April 24, 1916. The first stanza of the poem really shows Yeat’s apathetic feelings towards the uprising. He speaks of how he passes the “vivid faces” of people who were involved and excited about the revolution and reacts to them nonchalantly responding to them with “polite meaningless words.” He even emphasizes this point by repeating that line “polite meaningless words.” He even mentions poking fun at the uprising and making jokes about it to entertain his friends. However, at the end of the first stanza he realizes that regardless of whether he embraces it or not the uprising affects him and everyone else around him. “All changed, changed utterly.”

In the second stanza Yeats switches gears a bit and starts talking about specific people that he knew who were directly involved in the Easter Rising like the woman who’s nights were spent in arguments until her voice grew shrill. He was referring to his friend Countess Markiewicz who, although she was involved in the rebellion, was not executed only because she was a woman. Another person involved in the revolution that Yeats talks about is Patrick Pearse who was the founder of a Boy’s school and a poet and long with Pearse’s friend “helper and friend” Thomas MacDonagh. He doesn’t mention these people by name at the beginning of the poem but he does allude to them by referring to the part they played in the uprising and the way he portrayed them in a somewhat heroic light regardless of his previously overtly apathetic outlook on the Easter Uprising. One person that he did not portray in such a positive light was Major Thomas MacBride who had been married to the woman that Yeats loved, and had treated her badly. He did recognize the fact, however that did not stop Yeats from recognizing that “he, too, has resigned his part in the casual comedy; He, too, has been changed in his turn, transformed utterly.” Once again, Yeats ends the stanza with the resonating line, “A terrible beauty is born.” This phrase is very important because it is repeated at the end of every stanza except the third and emphasizes the fact that Yeats recognizes this revolution is a beautiful dream of independence that results in the ugly death of the majority of the people involved, an “ignorant good-will.”

Something that is very important to note in the third stanza is the fact that Yeats stops using the pronoun “I” and moves into a more descriptive metaphorical tone and takes on a third person voice. The poem changes from people to a more ethereal realm that included imagery involving nature themes like a stream, birds, clouds, and the all important symbol of the rock that is carried on to the fourth stanza. The rock symbolizes the steadfastness of the revolutionaries’ will, drive, and passion that troubles the “living stream” and “the horse that comes from the road.” The Irish were an obstacle that the British government had to deal with. “The stone’s in the midst of all” refers to how the uprising stood strong in the midst of the turbulence of the much stronger British government.

In the fourth stanza the symbol of the stone is again used, but this time in a different light. “Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.” The stone, in this final stanza, symbolizes how their stubborn determination ended in the end of the loss of their lives. The 4^th stanza is all about remembering the sacrifice of lives that the previously mentioned martyrs (with the exception of the countess) whose only fate, it seems through this poem, is their own demise. The lines “our part to murmur name upon name, as mother names her child...” tells the reader that our jobs as people aren’t to judge whether or not the sacrifices that these martyrs made were worth it, but just to simply remember them, specifically their names. The final stanza closes with once again the repetition of “a terrible beauty is born,” where Yeats’ once again reminds us that this uprising was a waste of lives for a beautiful ideal.

A final interesting thing about this poem is the fact that Yeats using the number of lines in the stanzas to mirror the date of the Easter Rising. Two of the stanzas contain 16 lines which are a reflection of the year (1916) and there are also two stanzas that contain 24 lines which reflect the day (April 24).