Yeats changes his treatment of Irish concerns throughout his life and these changes are reflected in his poetry. Three poems that reflect these changes are ‘September 1913’, ‘Easter 1916’ and ‘Under Ben Bulben’. These poems show a transpositions in political thought. In ‘September 1913′ Yeats shows his aversion to democracy and capitalism, and expresses his belief in an aristocratic society preferably governed by elite Protestants, as they had supremacy over Catholics in his view (Chaudhry, 33). The events of the Rising initiated a metamorphosis in Yeats.
Easter 1916′ shows how Yeats (usually not supportive of violence as a political movement) credited it with achieving something (Macrae 77). This poem enables us to see that Yeats’ strong belief in politics is beginning to diminish. The last poem ‘Under Ben Bulben’ was written in Yeats’ later stage of life. It shows how Yeats has transposed his treatment of Irish concerns over time, as now, in this poem he places the responsibility not upon the politician or the martyr, but on academia and literature to invoke the new Ireland.
September 1913′ is anti-Catholic in nature. Yeats centers the poem around the need for the new Catholic middle class to come to their senses “What need you, being come to sense” and to stop exiling Protestants “wild geese” to the Continent. In this poem Yeats tries to rekindle the passion for Nationalism that existed whilst John O’Leary was alive. He does this by installing a sense of guilt.
Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone / Its with O’Leary in the grave”, these lines repeated throughout the poem point out that the Nationalist cause is being forgotten because the leader is no longer there to enforce it. By doing this Yeats attempts to regain the impetus for Nationalism that once existed by making out that the cause O’Leary spent his life working for was fading away and would therefore make his efforts futile.
The third stanza further reflects the idea that people need to rally behind the cause of literary nationalism as it discusses the Irish rebels who fought for Catholic emancipation. “For this that all that blood was shed / For this Edward Fitzgerald died / And Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone / All that delirium of the brave? ” These lines show how Yeats was conflicted over what defines a hero (Macrae 69). Yeats respected them for being a part of the Nationalist cause, but opposed the violent means they used to try and achieve it.
“All that delirium of the brave? uggests that Yeats believed their intentions were admirable but their judgement was clouded, and that instead of violence they should have been using literary means to fulfill their objectives. ‘Easter 1916’ displays a change in Yeats. The rising and its aftermath shocked Yeats and crushed some of the beliefs he previously held as expressed in ‘September 1913′. Yeats was in England at the time of the rising and was annoyed at not being informed about the event before it occurred (Macrae 76), this can be seen in the tone and subject of the first stanza.
Polite meaningless words” and “To please a companion / Around the fire at the club” expresses how Yeats felt discordance at not being told about the rising, especially since he was one of the “club” Nationalists. The rising shattered Yeats’ disillusionment with the new Ireland “All changed, changed utterly”, shock arose out of the willingness for people he knew to sacrifice themselves for the cause, of whom he thought were following him in the literary Nationalist approach.
Yeats was disgusted at the brutal way in which the executions were carried out and this significantly weakened his belief in politics. The brutality of the death created martyrs as it gave the executed leaders authority and power they had not experienced before death. Yeats, who had previously believed in a non-violent approach, receded his pacifist attitude slightly to conceded that the violent approach has managed to achieve something that a pacifist one had not (Macrae 77).
This recession can be seen in the powerful oxymoron ‘terrible beauty’ (Malins 16). The line “A terrible beauty is born” is repeated throughout the poem three times which suggests that this signifies conflict for Yeats. It shows that he is struggling to find a new position. His stance against violence has been challenged as he has seen it proved to be effective, in the case of the rising, and he is having to re-evaluate something he had previously deemed as wrong. Yeats then looks to capitalize on the rising by promoting the Nationalist movement.
He does this by outlining the characteristics of the leaders he knew in stanza two. He lists different kinds of people, a teacher “This man had kept a school”, a person of whom he believed was timid “So sensitive his nature seemed / So daring and sweet his thought”, and also someone of whom he believed not to have been of ‘heroic virtue’ “A drunken, vainglorious lout” to illustrate that it does not matter what your nature is comprised of, everyone is capable of contributing to the Nationalist movement.
The third stanza reinforces this point by stating “Hearts with one purpose alone” which means that they had united together regardless of themselves as individuals to fight for the cause. Yeats also gives them praise in this stanza “Enchanted to a stone”, this means that integrity in this case was detached from the individual but resulted through being apart of a group. This poem is full of paradox. Yeats is unsure of which position to take; he praises the martyrs in some instances, and then reverts back to his belief in literary nationalism in others.
Yeats uses the paradox “Too long a sacrifice / Can make a stone of the heart” to point out that death does not always provide the answer, and this is reiterated in the final stanza in which Yeats writes “For England may keep faith / For all that is done and said” which means that even though the death of these people in the rising showed some advancement, the advancement was not great enough to justify the loss of human life. England still had control over Ireland and therefore Nationalism was not achieved. ‘Under Ben Bulben’ has a different thematic approach to ‘September 1913’ and ‘Easter 1916’, but it is still relevant.
Yeats is more spiritual in this poem and becomes more self reflective, therefore his approach to life comes through and his treatments of Irish concerns can be insinuated. Stanza two looks at the idea of reincarnation. Yeats suggests that there are two parts to the human existence, the “race” and the “soul”. The”race” refers to the bodily existence on earth, and “soul” refers to what encompasses man in existence on both earth and in the afterlife. According to Yeats it is not fear itself that is feared, it is the leaving behind of loved ones “A brief parting from those dear / Is the worst man has to fear”.
In the last four lines of the stanza, Yeats suggests that the human mind is the soul and what remains after death is his mind “soul”. This explains the poem’s preoccupation with making sure that Irish history is remembered through art. In stanza four Yeats calls art “profane perfection of mankind”. He does this to link it to the past and traditions of fear that his death would bring an end to the great age of art. Yeats makes a plea to artists to not forget because he sees them as the “soul” and the means in which the Nationalist motivation could encroach Ireland.
This poem expresses how Yeats changed in the third stanza, in which he discusses a coming of age. Yeats moves from a state of confusion to one of understanding. Yeats suffered confusion in times of war, seen in ‘September 1913’ and ‘Easter 1916′ seen in his reference to war “send war in our time” and imagery of a solider “fighting mad” which create a sense of madness. It is in this state of madness that clarity emerges; “something drops from eyes long blind”. Yeats himself acknowledges that through this life he has been experiencing change of conflict of thought.
Yeats’ change in his treatment of Irish concerns can be seen in the poems ‘September 1913’, ‘Easter 1916’ and ‘Under Ben Bulben’. The poem ‘September 1913’ shows Yeats approaching the nationalist movement with pacifist intentions and exhibits anti-Catholic propaganda. He disapproves of human sacrifice as he believes it is unnecessary and fruitless. In ‘Easter 1916′ Yeats’ treatment varies slightly. He is thrown into a state of turmoil as he tries to find a balance between the achievement of the Easter martyrs and the pacifist views he had previously upheld.
He then accepts that death is sometimes advantageous but combats this with the argument that very little is worth sacrificing human life for. ‘Under Ben Bulben’ shows a mature, understanding Yeats. He believes in this poem that the power lies within the mind and turns to art to recruit nationalists. He makes a plea for artists to keep up past traditions as he views them as the means of remembrance. It is evident in these three poems that a transgression in Yeats’ thought process and his treatment towards Irish concerns has taken place, and it reveals the road to self-discovery Yeats endured in his lifetime.
