“AN IRISH

AIRMAN
FORESEES
HIS
DEATH”
WB YEATS
 Background

• Jan 1918 – Lady Gregory received news that her son Major Robert Gregory , commanding
officer of the 66 Squadron, Royal Air Force stationed in norther Italy has been ‘killed in
action’.

• Major Gregory, was the only son of WB Yeats’ friend/patron Lady Augusta Gregory.

• Robert had volunteered to go to war, despite his being the only son of Lady Gregory, and
him having to leave his three children and wife behind.

• WB Yeats, was also a friend of Robert’s and was deeply moved by his death, and Lady
Gregory’s heartbroken, but brave reaction to his death.

• Yeats wrote four poems about his death, including this one.
Robert Gregory was one
of more than 100,000
Irishmen who joined the
British forces in the
course of the war.
An Irish Airman Foresees his DeathBy WB Yeats

10 Glossary
• Kiltartan Cross: Where Gregory family lived

• Tumult: State of chaos and uproar

15
Lines 1 - 8
• The poem is written in first person ‘I’.
• Yeats is writing from Robert’s point of view.
• The poem opens with the Major admitting that
he knows he will probably not survive the war.
• Yet he is calmly able to reflect on his reasons
for enlisting in the war.
• As an Irishman, he does not bear any ill will
towards the Germans, nor does he bear any love
for the British Empire for whom is fighting for.
• He also knows the outcome of the war will not
make a difference to his tenants at Kiltartan.
 Lines 9 - 16
• He was not forced by the law to join the army nor did he join out
of a sense of duty.
• He was not influenced by the rousing speeches of politicians or
inspired to join by the praise of the ‘cheering crowds’.
• He joined, to experience the exhilaration of being up there alone
among the clouds, even though it might lead to chaos (‘tumult’) or
even death.
• He signed up to find a sense of fulfillment and gratification in his
life.
• He ‘balanced all’ – weighed up the situation and understood the
risks.
• He came to realise that his actions as a fighter pilot would be the
climax of his life.
• The past and the future would be nothing compared to this
‘impulse of delight’.
 Understanding the Poem

1. Who is the speaker of the poem and what motivates him?

2. What is the speaker’s attitude to the war?

3. What is your impression of the speaker? Do you think he is

selfish for going to war? Give reasons for your answer.

4. How would you describe the mood of the poem? (Joyful? Heroic?
Etc)
 An Irish
Airman
Foresees
His Death -
2
 Take out your homework

Understanding the Poem

1. Who is the speaker of the poem and what motivates him?

2. What is the speaker’s attitude to the war?

3. What is your impression of the speaker? Do you think he is selfish

for going to war? Give reasons for your answer.

4. How would you describe the mood of the poem? (Joyful? Heroic?
Etc)
 Themes
Yeats imagines himself as Robert Gregory to write a poem
about the individual and society, and the nature of heroism.
 The individual and society
• Though it is accepted this poem is written from Robert Gregory’s point of view, the title of
the poem is; ”An Irish Airman”.

• Therefore, it is an anonymous voice that expresses a state of mind and a dilemma.

• The poem presents the inner workings of the mind of an individual in the face of a great public
event – the Great War.

• The poem was written during the war, when Ireland was bitterly divided in its attitude to it.
The poem reflects on the relationship of Ireland to a war fought by the United Kingdom.
 The speaker illustrates a combination of two

Nature of opposed attitudes;

1. Detachment shown through his

heroism and distance from the demands of society

on him:

self- ‘Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,

Nor public man, nor cheering crowds,’

sacrifice 2. The passion shown in his motive to

action:

‘lonely impulse of delight’.

 Language and Form
• The language of the poem is plain - made of direct statements.

• Poem can be divided into 4 quatrains (four-line-units) – the argument of the poem follows these
divisions precisely.

• Poem consists of two sentences, each exactly eight lines long; within two halves a semi-colon separates
the quatrains.

• This form, mirrors in detail what it describes – the act of balancing one thing against another and
finding a balance.

• The last line of the poem expresses its central balancing act , between life and death – ‘this life, this
death.’

• Rhyming scheme – abab