HallasOAC English Period 32 June 2001 Writing for Free Ireland: Yeats’s PoetryWilliam Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, a dramatist, and a prose writer - one of the greatest English-language poets of the twentieth century. (Yeats 1) His early poetry and drama acquired ideas from Irish fable and arcane study. (Eiermann 1) Yeats used the themes of nationalism, freedom from oppression, social division, and unity when writing about his country. Yeats, an Irish nationalist, used the three poems, “To Ireland in the Coming Times,” “September 1913” and “Easter 1916” which revealed an expression of his feelings about the War of Irish Independence through theme, mood and figurative language.The theme of nationalism dominates in “To Ireland in the Coming times” and in “Easter 1916.” In the former poem, Yeats suggested the idea of Irish brotherhood to achieve justice for Ireland, “True brother of a company, that sang, to sweeten Ireland’s wrong” (Finneran 50). Although he wanted to fight for Ireland’s freedom, he did not participate in any military activities. Instead, he used songs and poems to reflect the situation in Ireland:I cast my heart into my rhymes,That you, in the dim coming times,May know how my heart went with them (Finneran 51)In the latter poem, he mentioned the names of the national heroes such as MacDonagh who died for the rebellion (Abrams 2308) and said, “Now and in time to be, / Whenever green is worn,” (Finneran 182). Green, being the colour of the soldiers’ uniforms and also the national colour of Ireland, alluded that the war was still going on in Ireland.The theme of freedom from oppression was introduced in “September 1913.” Although Yeats loved his country, he often criticized it. He left Ireland after he published this poem which stated that the Ireland of his imagination no longer existed, “...
