Easter 1916 by W. B. Yeats

By King Meera -
YEATS not Yates
Remember that.
  • Marks the transition
  • Irish nationalist movement – strong folk tradition (Irish); independent of Great Britain (republic)
  • W.r.t. revival of Ireland and its spirit
  • Written after the Irish uprising of Easter 1916
  • Fiery spirit (Irish, not Hardy’s)
  • About choosing roles in life – societal, macrocosmic pressures stronger than personal drive
  • Personal choice subservient to social pressure
  • Speaker indifferent at first but then realizes the enormity of what Ireland was trying to achieveContrast between pre- and post-uprising – all has changed
  • Evolution – nation-public-common cause – how he changes through the poem
  • Cursory nods show indifference which is later transformed into celebration and glorification
  • Motley – grey – commonplace existence (no more nonchalance)
  • Significance of "grey/Eighteenth century houses" http://www.enotes.com/topics/easter-1916/in-depth 
  • Countess Markievicz – sweet-voiced then shrill from shouting and fighting for her country – killed
  • Major John MacBride
  • Maud Gone
  • Just another Fool in the comedy of life – resign yourself to playing a part without acknowledgement or commemoration
  • Personal prejudice set aside in light of loyalist identities
19 Feb 2015:

Hearts with one purpose alone.....The stone's in the midst of all.
  • Even people with differences came together
  • unflinching stone in the middle of the stream = enchantment of national consciousness
  • Nature, supposed to be the one thing we can count on, also changes (but cyclically, so chill)
  • history is a series of repeating cycles of peace and unrest, rise and fall (etc)
  • everything is dynamic except for the cause - the cause is the unflinching immobile stone in the midst of turmoil, protests, oppression, suppressed uprisings...
  • seems to be a cosmic energy in coming together
  • also seen: movement and fixety of purpose
Too long a sacrifice.....A terrible beauty is born.
  • too much sacrifice not good for mental health and happiness - makes you bitter and resentful
  • is it worth it, sacrificing your life for the idea of a nation, esp. if it hasn't even come into existence yet
  • nation born out of sacrifice - hence beauty, but terrible
  • allusion: green

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