In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz By W. B. Yeats

Eva Gore-Booth and Constance Markiewicz (née Gore-Booth) were two sisters who lived at Lissadell House in County Sligo. Constance (Con) died in 1926, and Eva in 1927. The young Yeats had been encouraged by them and entranced by their beauty. They are remembered in the poem as "Two girls in silk kimonos, both / beautiful, one a gazelle." Both later became involved in Irish nationalist politics, and Constance was sentenced to death for her part in the Easter Rising of 1916, though the sentence was subsequently commuted. Eva later became active in the Women's suffrage movement in Manchester, England.

Worksheet 25.1 Complete the spaces – use your knowledge of Yeats’ poetry and concerns to help you. Share your ideas Now compare your version to the original.

Yeats’ Attitude to Women Place key lines from the poem wherever you think appropriate between the two poles. Admiration for the women Condemnation of the women

Understanding the Poem…. The sisters dies shortly before Yeats wrote the poem. Why does he not appear to be grieving their deaths? Yeats instead chooses to grieve the women as they were when they were young, in their pre-political lives. He feels that this is how they should have stayed. Find evidence to support this.

How does Yeats show his scorn of the women’s politics? How does the tone change in the second stanza? How is the idea of time built into the poem? What do you think the gazebo could represent? How can you link this poem to other poems by Yeats?