Not So Romantic Remembrance

Yeats’s poem Easter 1916 addresses the theme of memory by reflecting on the leaders of the Irish rebellion against British rule. He delves into each one of the characters and focuses on certain attributes for which they are remembered. The somber language captures shock and sadness that spread through the country as a result of this troubled revolution. The poem’s title, Easter 1916, immediately draws attention to this particular event. Readers that do not have knowledge of this event would be compelled to research more in order to understand what Yeats means in the poem which in effect draws attention to the memory of the Easter rising.

The poem begins, “at close of day” already conjuring up images of darkness. The memories of this day are not of happy shining events but of dark tragic deeds that would fit with dusk. The light leaving the land parallels the peace that would leave the land at the start of this uprising. The “vivid faces” Yeats describes contrast with the deathly atmosphere he creates. These faces, full of life, illustrate the conviction these men and women had for their beliefs of an independent Ireland. Yeats sees them clearly, which provokes the idea that he remembers them well. When Yeats speaks with these “faces” he only nods or speak “polite meaningless words” giving a dull feel to the encounter. Yeats does not choose to remember these rebellious leaders as having great rhetoric that inspired souls to follow them but merely speaking words of little or no meaning.

In the second stanza, Yeats expounds deeper into the memories he has of each one of the leader. Yeats does not fully praise the woman who spends her life “In ignorant good-will,” though reflects that she was “young and beautiful.” He further only incorporates some figures for their roles in the rebellion though personally he has troubled thoughts of them. At the end he writes some important names out in the verse contributing to their memory. Yeats recalls this event as birthing a “terrible beauty” and stresses the importance of remembering these people in actuality, not as romantic heroes. Yeats discourages the practice of clouding the accuracy of a memory by displaying these individual as mortal and flawed.

Yeats, W.B., The Poems: A New Edition, edited by Richard J. Finneran. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company 1983.