Critical Analysis of Poem Easter 1916

Critical Analysis of Poem Easter 1916

Introduction

This assignment is a critical analysis of a poem Easter 1916 written W.B. Yeats. The writer of this was an Irish poet, and he was also known as the leading figure in the literature of the twentieth century. He was born on 13 June, 1865 and died on 28 January 1939. He also severed, for two terms, as Irish Senator. People of literature will remember him as a strong pillar for the establishment of literature in Ireland and Great Britten. He was the leading individual entity behind the revival of literature in Ireland.

Discussion

The poem describes the bitter emotions of the writer the events caused by the Easter Rising. This is known as the rebel against British rule in Ireland. The Irish Republicans initiated this rebel in order to kick out the British rule and to implement establish their own Irish Republican. This was initiated when the British kingdom was involved in the World War One. This rebelling movement was unsuccessful. The result was the execution of many the Irish Republican.

Analysis of First Stanza

The first stanza of the underlying poem is about a person who walks in the city. This person is called flaneur in the concept of literature. The first few lines of the poem are about the rush hours in the city. This is the time when everyone is going back to home after working in the offices. The writer of the poem, Yeats, is acting as an observer in this stanza. Yeats are observing the faces of all those people who are returning from their jobs. He is talking about the “vivid” faces of youth. The youth which is very much concern about the future of the Ireland.

The writer is comparing these ordinary people, who are working for others, to other wealthier people. Yeats also thinks about a tale or a joke to make his friend happy. Both were walking along either in a park or somewhere else. Yeats changes his tone in the last couple of line of this stanza. He used “Terrible beauty” for describing the two faces of the Easter rising. He referred to the dual faces of the participants of that movement. He called that rising terrible because of the unnecessary deaths during the rising. He used beauty with terrible to indicate the intellectual revolution. This rising opened the eyes of the Irish people towards better Ireland. The last two lines of this stanza are used in every stanza to link them together. This phrase, “a terrible beauty is born”, linked the multidimensional stanzas.

Analysis of Second Stanza

The first line of the second stanza is speaking about a woman. The name of that woman was Constance Markiewicz. She was an Irish politician and socialist. Her husband leaved her alone in 1913 in Ireland, and he move to Ukraine. She was sentenced to lifetime prison. She, along with other women, was released in 1917. Yeats does not rank this lady very ...