Summary and composition

Here, we discuss the summary and composition of the poem “Easter 1916” by William Butler Yeats.

Summary

In “Easter 1916” by William Butler Yeats, the poet initially presents the people he meets on the streets in the evening, with whom he makes small-talk or with whom shares a funny story at the club. However, these meaningless habits soon change because the revolutionaries organise the Easter Rising. The poet continues by describing a woman and some men – most likely some of the ones who were involved in the Easter Rising – and their sacrifices for the Irish independence. Although he believes that their sacrifice will be forever remembered, the poet asks himself whether it will be enough to stir a change. At the same time, he asks himself whether the death for independence was not, in, fact, worthless, as England might as well offer Ireland the promised independence after all. In the end, the poet deems the death of the revolutionaries as both beautiful and terrible.

Context

The poem “Easter 1916” focuses on an important issue related to the Irish independence: in Easter Monday 1916, Irish Republicans formed the “Easter Rising” – a movement which was meant to free the Irish from the British rule. The revolutionaries were killed, which made the Irish movement grow even stronger.

Composition

To better understand Yeats’ “Easter 1916”, it is very important to analyse the poem in terms of both outer composition (the way in which the poem is organised in stanzas and verses) and inner composition (the division of the poem and its content).

Outer composition

The poem “Easter 1916” is structured into four stanzas. Stanzas 1 and 3 have 14 lines, while stanzas 2 and 4 have 24 lines.  

The poem is mostly written according to an ABAB rhyme scheme, just like in the following example:

That woman's days were spent
In ignorant g...