By September 1913, the Irish poet William Butler Yeats had lost all faith in the concept of freedom for the British controlled nation of Ireland, and documented his disappointment in the renowned poem “September 1913”. Yeats decided to continue to write about his country’s experiences and his personal feelings. Yeats believed that Ireland had no chance of being free until April of 1916. An alliance of rebels planned to overthrow the British and take over Ireland, but the plan failed and many of the rebels were executed by the British. Although the rebellion did not accomplish want the rebels wanted, it caused Yeats to have some hope and rethink his ideas and hopes for Ireland. This inspired him to write “Easter 1916”, a poem published in September
…show more content…
Although William Butler Yeats was not directly involved in the creation of the Rising nor did he contribute to it on the Easter Monday of 1916, that does not mean that he wanted to disregard the objective of the rebellion itself. However, Yeats did not agree with the idea that it was important for people to take over a city in order to achieve independence from England’s rule. When writing the poem Yeats looked back on his past and used his interests in his poem. He grew up in Ireland with an interest in mysticism. He thought that life and death were very interesting topics to discuss, “ INSERT evidence”. Yeats was obsessed with complex philosophies like magic and alchemy, along with his strong nationalism, make it difficult to understand him as a poet. Yeats believed that it was important to keep the poem true to himself so that people could focus more easily on the message. However, he still placed details within the poem itself, that if a reader looked closely enough they would notice them. For example, the date of the rebellion was April 1916, Yeats divided his poem into four stanzas with sixteen lines each, to honor the fourth month of the year 1916. It was important to Yeats because he wanted people to not be bombarded with details in the poem and they could focus on what he wanted them to; the lives
Although William Butler Yeats was not directly involved in the creation of the Rising nor did he contribute to it on the Easter Monday of 1916, that does not mean that he wanted to disregard the objective of the rebellion itself. However, Yeats did not agree with the idea that it was important for people to take over a city in order to achieve independence from England’s rule. When writing the poem Yeats looked back on his past and used his interests in his poem. He grew up in Ireland with an interest in mysticism. He thought that life and death were very interesting topics to discuss, “ INSERT evidence”. Yeats was obsessed with complex philosophies like magic and alchemy, along with his strong nationalism, make it difficult to understand him as a poet. Yeats believed that it was important to keep the poem true to himself so that people could focus more easily on the message. However, he still placed details within the poem itself, that if a reader looked closely enough they would notice them. For example, the date of the rebellion was April 1916, Yeats divided his poem into four stanzas with sixteen lines each, to honor the fourth month of the year 1916. It was important to Yeats because he wanted people to not be bombarded with details in the poem and they could focus on what he wanted them to; the lives