An Irish Airman Forsees His Death WB Yeats

Relevant Background WB Yeats was born in 1865 in Dublin. His family was upper class and Protestant. Yeats took classes in art and thus could paint a scene well with words. Despite dyslexia and early difficulty with learning the alphabet, he turned into the greatest Irish Poet of the Twentieth Century.

Themes Pursuing your personal dream Major Robert Gregory joined the air-force to fulfil a dream. He valued taking his chances in a fighter plane above his life. He did this for himself as he didn’t care about public opinion. He didn’t even want to be a hero. The delight it gave him was lonely or private, not something to be shared.

War The poem looks at the various reasons that people go to war for War The poem looks at the various reasons that people go to war for. Some go to protect or guard their countrymen. Some go to war out of hatred for an enemy. Sometimes the law compels people to become soldiers. Others join battle out of a sense of duty to their country. Some become soldiers after being urged on by politicians. Others do it out of a desire for public approval, perhaps to become public heroes.

Death A young man, Major Robert Gregory, chooses a career that he knows will probably kill him. He considers the past and the future a waste of breath. He trades the thrill of a moment for his life. Death is the price he is prepared to pay for one worthwhile moment in life. He faced death fearlessly and with no regrets.

Major Robert Gregory fought for the British Empire against the German Empire in the First World War. Yeats has little concern for the actual war that is being fought. He focuses on the personality of his friend.

The speaker is Major Robert Gregory

Form This poem is a lyric. Major Robert Gregory addresses the reader directly and personally

Structure This is a sixteen line poem that divides into four sections. It consists of two sentences, with full stops at lines eight and sixteen

Language  The language is direct and conversational. But the sound effects contain lots of repetitions that create a musical effect.

Comparison The speaker compares life to death. The speaker contrasts himself to the typical fighter Paradox [apparent contradiction] The most vivid moment of the speaker’s life contains his death

Tone The speaker is in an unemotional state and speaks in a cold uncaring voice about his own life and death throughout the poem. His voice becomes warm when he is speaking of his neighbours in Kiltartan. When he speaks of the reasons men go to war, his tone is cold again. When the speaker refers to the past and future as a ‘waste of breath’ his tone becomes hateful or contemptuous.

Assonance  Note the repeated ‘ea’ sounds of the last three lines. This assonance reinforces the speaker’s tone of contempt.

Alliteration   lines five and six, there are six words that start with a hard ‘c’ or ‘k’ sound. This makes the speaker’s voice sound strong at this point, where he is asserting his true loyalty.