"They weighed so lightly what they gave" - the heros
sacrificed themselved - they weighed their life so lightly
and gave it away so easily - he see's no point in this
dissalusioned bravery esp. since they achieved nothing
Freedom
"They have gone about the world like wind" -
depicting them as powerful, unstoppable and aided
by nature, wind is liberal and unrestricted.
Death
The futility of death
"could they save?" what was the point of their heroic
deaths - what did they fight for the world is evidently
still full of corruption - they wasted their lives
All the violence was pointless - violence is not the way
forward - "for all this blood was shed" and still there are
men who were adding a "prayer to shivering prayer"
Easter 1916 - again the hero's here "might have won
fame" but are now dead and wasted their lives - these
questions make us contemplate whether it is right
Easter 1916 the same kinds of rhetorical
questions - " O when may it suffice?"
asks himself when does this end
"was it for this the wild geese spread" - he
is asking a rhetorical q. was it to anyway end
up in this situation that these hero's fought?
He repeats how heroic these people were
and showing how desperatly disappointed
he is to get justice on behalf of these men.
"all that delirium of the brave" - futility of their fight and
death - "delirium" they were crazed and mad for
attempting this for it only consumed them and for what?
- Easter 1916 – ‘ignorant good will’
Corruption
The weak workers are being exploited by the
employers who "dried the marrow from the
bone" - this cruel animalistic behaviour shows
how savage these people have become - the
marrow is the good in the bone - these ppl are
getting extracting the good from these ppl.
how greedy the employers have
become and in general how affected
society has become by money as to
- "add the halfpence to the pence"
this insignificant amount of money
would not affect the rich employers
but is what keeps the worker alive
In T.F he also shows how Ireland has become so
corrupted and nothing is done about it - the "insolent
unreproved" and the "catch-cries of the clown"
"fumble in a greasy till" - this is the unpleasant side of
the commercial world - they are fumbling which reminds
us of ppl robbing which reflects how the workers feel
that the managers are stealing from them
"men were born to pray and save" how people
should be helping them but are not Also ppl could
read 2 meanings into the "save" the greedy see the
saving of money whilst the humble see saving -
spiritually, the poor from these greedy rich
‘dried the marrow from the bone’ and
literally sucked the life out of Ireland, left it
brittle – this can be compared to Leda and
the Swan, ‘before the indifferent beak
could let her drop’, the swan has taken all
that it needs from Leda and has no care
for her now, much like Britain taking even
‘the marrow’ in Ireland and then leaving.
Structure
It is a Ballad, Simple ABAB rhyme
scheme, as simple structures and
carry political messages better.
strong rhyme
Tone: confrontational - scourful
this was a popular form in Irish culture
Refrain - "Romantic Ireland's dead and gone, It's with O'Leary
in the grave" - this shows his disappointment of how the world
is changing and how the old Ireland has gone with it.
Similarly S.C has this melancholy refrain
Each stanza ends in
refrain. the 'grave.'
showing finality.
a lot of enjambment as there is only one "." at the
end and if not only semi-colons and commas. -
more a train of thought or like a speech.
Ireland / Nationalism
he shows here how Ireland has become
corrupt - "you have dried the marrow from the
bone" no longer the "Romantic Ireland"
Yeats expresses frustration towards Ireland and the
rebels, how violence is not the way forward,
Easter 1916- mourning the loss of
romantic Ireland 'ignorant good will' lives
wasted fighting-could revolve with art. +
he mentions the specific people again "
This man had kept a school"
The mention of real rebels "O'Leary in
the grave" and "Edward Fitzgerald died"
John O'Leary was a grandfather figure to
him and represented respect and ideas, he
believed revolution could be born of art. He
was highly influential to Yeats.
Justice
"All that delirium of the brave?" he is
trying to spur on rebellion so to bring
justice to the men who died for the cause.
He names the men and they would have been
well known at the time - they all got killed for
fighting for justice - this is why they were heros
E.16 "so daring and sweet his thought" here we see
how innocent this man is - he had such good intentions