What is the main theme of the poem September 1913?
‘September 1913′ by William Butler Yeats is a mournful elegy for “Romantic Ireland” and that nationalist heroes that Yeats admired. The poem takes the reader through Yeats’ perception of the current state of Irish politics and the beliefs of the general public.
What is Yeats complaining about in September 1913?
In summary, ‘September 1913’ is a poem in which Yeats laments the loss of ‘Romantic Ireland’. The first stanza focuses on money and prayer: Yeats is arguing that Irelanders are too concerned with petty financial matters and dogged religious duty, and are not alive to the cultural issues which make Ireland unique.
What does romantic Ireland mean in September 1913?
The final stanza of Yeats’s ‘September 1913’ suggests that this was why the romantic and nationalist Ireland of John O’Leary was truly dead and gone, for better or for worse—a belief that he seems to have maintained right up until his own death in 1939.
What is the central contrast in the poem September 1913?
By simply mentioning “names,” Yeats introduces the chief means by which he develops the poem’s central theme: the contrast between the Ireland of 1913 and the “Romantic Ireland” that is “dead and gone.” Whereas the first stanza had one strategically placed off-rhyme, the second stanza has two.
Who is O’Leary in the grave?
John O’Leary (23 July 1830 – 16 March 1907) was an Irish republican and a leading Fenian. He studied both law and medicine but did not take a degree and for his involvement in the Irish Republican Brotherhood he was imprisoned in England during the nineteenth century.
What is the red rose bordered hem?
The ‘red-rose-bordered hem of her’ is a reference to Yeats’ earlier poetry which was full of romanticism. He says that even though he began with such poetry, his poems now all contain patriotism. Hence, Yeats says that World War I was the one which made Ireland’s heart beat, meaning it made Irish to take action.
For whom the hangman’s rope was spun?
For whom the hangman’s rope was spun, And what, God help us, could they save? Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone, It’s with O’Leary in the grave.
When was the poem September 1913 written?
Two poems set in Dublin, Ireland, in 1913 and 1916 respectively; “September 1913” first published as “Romance in Ireland” in 1913, later published in Responsibilities in 1914; ‘Easter, 1916” privately published for Yeats’s friends in 1916, publicly published in Michael Robartes and the Dancer in 1921.
Is O’Leary Irish?
Irish (Munster): Americanized form of Ó Laoghaire ‘descendant of Laoghaire’, a byname originally meaning ‘keeper of the calves’, from laogh ‘calf’. This was the name of a 5th-century king of Ireland.
Which was Yeats last poem before he died?
The Black Tower
“The Black Tower” (January 21, 1939) was the last poem that Yeats wrote, composed a week before he died.
What then WB Yeats poem?
‘What then?’ The work is done,’ grown old he thought, ‘According to my boyish plan; Let the fools rage, I swerved in naught, Something to perfection brought’; But louder sang that ghost, ‘What then?’