Easter 1916 By W B Yeats Background Composed

Easter 1916 By W B Yeats

Background • Composed between May and September 1916 • The poem was not actually published until 1920 • The poem commemorates the Easter Rising of 24 th April 1916 • Yeats himself said that a main theme of the poem is “terrible beauty” and said of the events of the poem: • “I had no idea that any public event could so move me – and I am very despondent about the future. At the moment I feel all the work of years has been overturned, all the bringing together of classes, all the freeing of Irish literature and criticism from politics. ”

The Easter Rising • The Easter Rising took place on April 24 th 1916 in Dublin.

• About 1, 600 members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood under the leadership of Patrick Pearse rose against British rule of Ireland.

• They issued a Proclamation setting up ‘the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic’ and took over several major buildings in Dublin, especially the GPO. Read through the Proclamation of Independence: - What do the provisional government want? - What is the most powerful sentence in their Proclamation?

• After fierce fighting, they were defeated by the British Army. • Fifteen of those who took part in the Rising were executed in May 1916

Watch this video which will give you some background…. . https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Cew_ZL gi 3 Cc https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=r. O 2 J 70 R Lz. A 8

“All changed, changed utterly” 1. What do you consider to be the main theme of the poem? • The change in people when they go from normal life to heroic struggle for Independence. 2. How does Yeats use language to give a sense of revolutionary energy to his poem? • Did you notice all the words and phrases that suggest change? 3. Comment on the phrase “terrible beauty” • Can you find a similar paradox in September 1913? 4. Explore the effects of form and structure.

• https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=p 49 rq 3 rmnk 8&safe=active

• What events led up to the rebellion in 1917? • Who were the leaders of the revolt? What happened to them? • How did the people of Ireland react to these events? • How did the U. S. respond to the revolt? • What happened that explains the tension between • Northern Ireland the rest of Ireland?