EASTER, 1916

BY: William Butler Yeats

 William Butler Yeats
[1865-1939]
3. Was a prolific Irish poet,
1. Born in SANDYMOUNT. dramatist, and writer & one of
2. Educated in DUBLIN & the foremost figures of 20th
LONDON. Century Literature.
4. Founder of ABBEY THEATRE

5. Noble Laureate in 6. Became CHIEF PLAYWRIGHT

LITERATURE. for the Irish Literary Theatre, in
1894 & early on promoted
[ 1923 ] younger poets like Ezra Pound.

7. NOTABLE POEMS: Leda & the Swan, Death, The Second

Coming, He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven, Long-
Legged Fly, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, Easter
1916, Sailing To Byzantium, Among School Children, etc.
 Central Idea

It commemorates the martyrs

of the Easter Rising, an
The poem examines the
insurrection against the British
nature of heroism and its
government in Ireland in 1916,
incongruity with
which resulted in the execution
everyday life.
of several Irish nationalists
whom Yeats knew personally.
 THE POEM
➢ Setting of the poem:
➢ Written shortly after Dublin, Ireland.
the Irish Republican
➢ “Easter, 1916” – four stanzas, 16
uprising against the
lines: 1&3 and 24 lines: 2&4.
British government
[Four stanzas represent the fourth in April 1916.
month of the year – April & the 16
men that were executed after Easter (Although it was not
Rising. published until 1920)
24 lines, symbolize the fateful day of
the month on which the Rising began:
➢ Written in first-
April 24, 1916.] person’s voice.

(Speaker: Yeats)
➢ The poem’s primary theme is new birth, as
characterized by its refrain: “a terrible beauty is born.”
I have met them at close of day
Coming with vivid faces
From counter or desk among grey
Eighteenth-century houses.
I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words,
Or have lingered awhile and said
Polite meaningless words,
And thought before I had done
Of a mocking tale or a gibe
To please a companion
Around the fire at the club,
Being certain that they and I
But lived where motley is worn:
All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
That woman's days were spent
In ignorant good-will,
Her nights in argument
Until her voice grew shrill.
What voice more sweet than hers
When, young and beautiful,
She rode to harriers?
This man had kept a school
And rode our wingèd horse;
This other his helper and friend
Was coming into his force;
He might have won fame in the end,
So sensitive his nature seemed,
So daring and sweet his thought.
This other man I had dreamed
A drunken, vainglorious lout.
He had done most bitter wrong
To some who are near my heart,
Yet I number him in the song;
He, too, has resigned his part
In the casual comedy;
He, too, has been changed in his turn,
Transformed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
Hearts with one purpose alone
Through summer and winter seem
Enchanted to a stone
To trouble the living stream.
The horse that comes from the road,
The rider, the birds that range
From cloud to tumbling cloud,
Minute by minute they change;
A shadow of cloud on the stream
Changes minute by minute;
A horse-hoof slides on the brim,
And a horse plashes within it;
The long-legged moor-hens dive,
And hens to moor-cocks call;
Minute by minute they live:
The stone's in the midst of all.
Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?
That is Heaven's part, our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
On limbs that had run wild.
What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death;
Was it needless death after all?
For England may keep faith
For all that is done and said.
We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead;
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse—
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
 THE THRUST OF THE POEM
• If we had to write an interpretation that left Yeats out, we might focus more generally on how
a major event—not necessarily an uprising—can turn regular people into what we might
call today "heroes.“

• Think about how Yeats first talks about the people he meets. Their interaction is kind of
trivial or unimportant. They exchange "polite meaningless words." Yeats even admits to
making fun of them to his friends.

• Then what happens? "All changed, changed utterly," Yeats tells us. The people Yeats thinks
of as jokes or unimportant become important. "Transformed utterly," he says. The woman, the
schoolteacher, the drunk—they all dedicate themselves to "one purpose alone."
 Poetic Devices
• ALITERATION & ASSONANCE: A terrible beauty is born (alliteration and assonance of “b” sounds)
So sensitive his nature seemed (alliteration of “s” sounds)
No, no, not night but death (alliteration of “n” sounds)
To know they dreamed and are dead (alliteration of “d” sounds)
Transformed utterly: / A terrible beauty (alliteration of “t” sounds)
Coming with vivid faces (assonance of “I” sounds)
A shadow of cloud on the stream (assonance of “o” and “a” sounds)
The long-legged moor-hens dive (assonance of “o” sounds)

• REFRAIN: “A terrible beauty is born” (Lines 16, 40, 80), which Yeats places at the end of the first, second, and fourth stanzas.
• FORESHADOWING: There is foreshadowing towards the ending of the first paragraph. ‘All changed, changed utterly’ this sentence
speaks of the content to be expected in the coming part of the poem.
• SYNECDOCHE: “Hearts” with one purpose alone ( Stanza 3 ) & When sleep at last has come, On “limbs” that had run wild ( Stanza 4 )
• OXYMORON: A Terrible Beauty is born.
• IMAGERY: There is much imagery in stanza 3 of the poem. Horses, riders, clouds, and moor-hens with long legs; are all part of the
imagery used.
 The
Argumentative Thomas James
Woman MacDonagh Connolly
The Narrator
(W.B. Yeats) Patrick Pearse John MacBride

Dominant Characters
 SYMBOLISM

STONE TERRIBLE BEAUTY

GREEN

o The stone represents o "Terrible beauty" - effects of the

the unmoving o The color green symbolizes
determination the Irish culture.
rebels had for
independence. o At the end of the poem,
however, he conjures green,
a color now synonymous
o Much of Stanza 3 is
with Ireland when noting
spent creating a
complex image of a the immortality of the
stone in the river. rebels who will be
remembered "wherever
green is worn."
uprising in Ireland.
o The uprising destroyed the streets of
Dublin, claimed many lives, and
resulted in the execution of 15 leaders,
many of whom were Yeats's personal
friends.
o Their unity caused a rebirth of Irish
nationalism, which to Yeats, was
beautiful. In lines 16, 40, and 80 the
narrator refers to a "terrible beauty"
 Heroism as Redemption

Change as the essence

of nature
THEMES Questioning Violence

Immortality through Legacy

Although Yeats follows a regular
meter and rhyme scheme, he
experiments a bit with his narration.

Follows almost a stream-of-

Symbolism
consciousness technique as he
reflects on the events of Easter, 1916.

Modern
Experimentation
Elements in Cynicism

He reflects on various elements of
the Easter uprising as they occur to
him, and he inserts himself
continually in the poem in a kind of
modern individualism.
the poem
The poem also indulges in cynicism about the
modern world (common in modernist poetry).
Individualism Obviously, the Easter uprising has been a
violent, deadly event, yet the speaker wonders
if the deaths were needless in the long run and
if the dream would ever be fulfilled.
“Easter, 1916” was written to elegize some of the Dubliners
who lost their lives during Ireland's Easter Rising of 1916.

Yeats isn't sure how much he admires the people he's talking
about. But he definitely has learned to respect them and the
sacrifice they made for something they believed in.
Thank you
Presented by: Umika Sambyal
Roll Number: 22
Professor: Dr Shalini Sharma