Writing For Free Ireland YeatsS Poetry Essays -

Writing For Free Ireland: YeatsS Poetry Edmund Chung Ms. Hallas OAC English Period 3 2 June 2001 Writing for Free Ireland: Yeatss Poetry William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, a dramatist, and a prose writer - one of the greatest English-language poets of the twentieth century. (Yeats 1) His early poetry and drama acquired ideas from Irish fable and arcane study. (Eiermann 1) Yeats used the themes of nationalism, freedom from oppression, social division, and unity when writing about his country. Yeats, an Irish nationalist, used the three poems, To Ireland in the Coming Times, September 1913 and Easter 1916 which revealed an expression of his feelings about the War of Irish Independence through theme, mood and figurative language. The theme of nationalism dominates in To Ireland in the Coming times and in Easter 1916. In the former poem, Yeats suggested the idea of Irish brotherhood to achieve justice for Ireland, True brother of a company, that sang, to sweeten Irelands wrong (Finneran 50). Although he wanted to fight for Irelands freedom, he did not participate in any military activities. Instead, he used songs and poems to reflect the situation in Ireland: I cast my heart into my rhymes, That you, in the dim coming times, May know how my heart went with them (Finneran 51) In the latter poem, he mentioned the names of the national heroes such as MacDonagh who died for the rebellion (Abrams 2308) and said, Now and in time to be, / Whenever green is worn, (Finneran 182). Green, being the colour of the soldiers uniforms and also the national colour of Ireland, alluded that the war was still going on in Ireland. The theme of freedom from oppression was introduced in September 1913. Although Yeats loved his country, he often criticized it. He left Ireland after he published this poem which stated that the Ireland of his imagination no longer existed, Romantic Irelands dead and gone, / Its with OLeary in the grave. (Finneran 108). Yeats implied that Irish freedom fighters, such as OLeary, have died in vain. He also inferred that there were no longer any people who were willing to fight for Ireland: Yet they were of a different kind, The names that stilled your childish play, They have gone about the world like wind, (Finneran 108) The contemporary Roman Catholic middle classes had defeated the cause for which Yeats fought for at that time; hence Yeats felt oppressed by his own people. (Abram 2303) The theme of social division appeared in September 1913 because Yeats detested the middle classes and their Philistine money grabbing (Abrams 2303) as describe in the first three lines: What need you, being come to sense, But fumble in a greasy till And add the halfpence to the pence (Finneran 108) To Yeats, the middle classes had forgotten their own history. They insulted the memories of the Irish heroes who fought for freedom and the rights to be Catholic. Through this poem, Yeats suggested that the middle classes only cared about money, not the freedom of their country. He tended to romanticize the aristocracy and peasants but hated the middle classes for their indifference to Ireland. (Abrams 2303) Yeats also implied that because of the selfishness, they made everything meaningless, destroying the romantic Ireland. In contrast, the poems To Ireland in the Coming Times and Easter 1916 carried the theme of unity. In the former poem, Yeats said, That you, in the dim coming times, / May know how my heart went with them (Finneran 51). He was saying that his dreams for Ireland would live on even when he was dead. Yeats wrote the latter poem after the Easter Rebellion. (Abrams 2307) It expressed the theme of unity by Yeatss action of returning to Ireland and reconciling with the middle classes. This happened when he realized that the middle classes were behind the rebellion. He used the word our in both poems, which also revealed a strong idea of unity. Yeats used different tones in these poems because they were written in three different stages of his career. To Ireland in the Coming Times was written in 1896 during the early stage of Yeatss career. He created a sentimental and nostalgic mood when he wrote, Ah, faeries, dancing under the moon, / A Druid land, a