523780
An Irish Airman
Foresees His Death
- Key Themes
- Championing of war and
risktaking/exploration of the motivation and
pyschological state of those who want to fight
- Death-Gregory trade the past and the future for
one thrilling moment. Considers both a 'waste of
breath'
- He did not want to be a hero. Just wanted adventure
- Some go to war fro patriotic reasons. They hate the
enemy. Public approval. The law. Not Gregory
- Yeats saw Gregory as a Renaissance
man. His death affected him greatly
- Championing of war and
risktaking/exploration of the motivation and
pyschological state of those who want to fight
- Analysis 1
- Elegy for Robert Gregory
- Structure unusual-Gregory narrates
- Typically an elegy
would mourn the
topic.
- Tone is not one of sorrow but fatalism
- Fatalism=acceptance of fate.
What will happen will happen
- Fatalism=acceptance of fate.
What will happen will happen
- Fatalism obvious from opening
lines-'I know that I shall meet my fate'
- Gregory goes on to say he has no
motives for this fight. Not love of
'Kiltartan's Cross' or his countrymen
'Kiltartan's Poor'
- Tone is bleak/No
sense of passion
- Tone is bleak/No
sense of passion
- Elegy for Robert Gregory
- Analysis 2
- In lines 9/10 narrator makes it
clear it was not the ''cheering
crowds'' that made him fight
- His decision was a rational
one. Not impressed by the
realities of war
- Sense of cynicism in ''public
men'' perhaps fools as he
couldn't care less but those men
don't deserve to die
- He feels detached from his past and
future ''years to come seemed waste
of breath'' and ''a waste of breath the
years behind''
- Ironically he feels most
alive when faced with a
''tumult in the clouds''.
Following his ''impulse of
delight'' when flying
towards his inevitable
deah
- Repitition of 'waste of
breath'' reiterates his
contempt for a dull
secure life
- In lines 9/10 narrator makes it
clear it was not the ''cheering
crowds'' that made him fight
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