Easter 1916 Flashcards
The rhyme scheme of the poem…
…alternates rhyming lines in ABAB form. Yeats varies this structure in order to emphasise specific elements of the poem’s content and significance.
Yeats uses iambic tetrameter and trimeter.
He varies them perhaps to convey the insignificance of conformity and the changes that had taken place or were developing in Ireland.
Through a consistency in form…
…Yeats maintains a sense of unity, yet he allows variations in his structure (going from iambic tetrameter to iambic trimeter).
(Stanza 1)
In this stanza Yeats describes…
…the people or “vivid faces” he sees in everyday life. They are insignificant to Yeats as individuals, however each o them shares a common bond with him. They are all united in a fight for Ireland.
(Stanza 1)
Yeats comments on how all he says…
…to the people on the street are “polite meaningless words”, which shows how insignificant the people are in the greater scheme of things.
(Stanza 1)
The lines: “Being certain that…
…they and I, But lived where motley is worn”, adds to the fact that each citizen, like Yeats, is aware that they share a common identity. However, they use of “motley” (which is worn by jesters) suggests that the ideal is foolish.
(Stanza 1)
The final line of the stanza…
…“A terrible beauty is born” describes the people of Ireland as they come together and work towards the goal of Irish independence from England.
(Stanza 1)
“A terrible beauty is born”.
The birth of this is terrible because the fight for independence will inevitably cause bloodshed and death.
The birth of this is beautiful because the people of Ireland are finally uniting over a single cause. To fight for their beloved country.
(Stanza 1). “A terrible beauty is born”.
The repetition…
…of this line may suggest that Yeats himself did not believe that any “beauty” would be born, and that he is trying to force himself and his audience into believing this fact through the repetition.
(Stanza 2)
Yeats moves on…
…to describe the major figures in the Easter 1916 uprising.
(Stanza 2) Markievicz.
The imagery…
Of her arguing “Until her voice grew shrill”, but maintaining a life of “Ignorant good will” illustrates the deceptive nature of appearances.
The use of the word “shrill” almost contradicts the beauty she possessed when she was young (link to Eva Gore-Booth).
(Stanza 2)
Yeats also describes…
…Peter Pearse as a “man who had kept a school” and Thomas McDunagh as “his helper and friend.
(Stanza 2) Peter Pearse and Thomas McDunagh.
Both of them had been…
…active,y involved in the fight for Irish independence, and Yeats seemed to be suggesting that it would have been more worthwhile had they remained as teacher and artist.
(Stanza 2)
Yeats also portrays…
…John MacBride (the ex-husband of Maude Gonne) as a “vainglorious lout”.
(Stanza 2) John MacBride.
Although Yeats personally…
…despised him because “he had done most bitter wrong, To some near my heart”, he still includes him in the poem, and says that “he too has been changed in his turn”, and it’s almost as though his feelings towards him have mellowed because of his death.
