W. B.

Yeats: “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death” Unit 5

UNIT 5 : W. B. YEATS : “AN IRISH AIRMAN

FORESEES HIS DEATH”

UNIT STRUCTURE
5.1 Learning Objectives
5.2 Introduction
5.3 W. B. Yeats: The Poet
5.3.1 His Life
5.3.2 His Works
5.4 The Text of the Poem
5.4.1 Context of the Poem
5.4.2 Explanation of the Poem
5.5 Style and Language
5.6 Let us Sum up
5.7 Further Reading
5.8 Answers to Check Your Progress
5.9 Model Questions

5.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit, you will be able to:

• familiarise yourself with the life and works of W. B. Yeats
• explain the context and content of the poem “An Irishman Foresees
His Death”
• discuss the style and language of the poem
• appreciate the poem in its totality.

5.2 INTRODUCTION

In this unit we have taken up a major poem titled “An Irish Airman
Foresees His Death” by W. B. Yeats. You must have heard and read on
this great poet who had won Nobel prize for Literature in 1923. The poetry
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Unit 5 W. B. Yeats: “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”

of Yeats has great aesthetic beauty with a patriotic fervour particularly in

relation to the Irish cause. In this unit, we will give you a birds’-eye view of
the poet W. B. Yeats and his poem “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”.
The focus in this unit is on this particular poem, regarding its context, style
and language. There is also a textual discussion. After reading this unit you
may be motivated into reading his other poems and about his eventful life
as well as grasp the poetic techniques he uses.

5.3 W. B. YEATS: THE POET

W. B. Yeats was a famous Irish poet who bridges the gap between the
Victorians and the Moderns. He began as a late Victorian romantic poet
and ended as a twentieth century modern poet fully abreast of the newer
generations. His poetic genius can be traced by comparing the beautiful,
simple, romantic poems like “When you are Old”, “Lake Isle of Innisfree”
with the profound “Byzantium” poems that appeared much later. He is
regarded as the national poet of Ireland and the Irish background forms the
very crux of his poetry. Let us now, delve into the life of this poet and the
numerous works he wrote.
Crux :root or core of
something
5.3.1 His Life
Sligo: a county in
their province of W. B. Yeats was an Irish poet born on June 13 in the year 1865 in
Connacht in the west Dublin. He was the eldest son of John Butler Yeats who was a painter and
of the Republic of who was greatly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites. His mother was a
Ireland homely girl from Sligo. She was full of love for the country side. W. B.
Yeats was greatly influenced by both his parents .The intellectual side of
his personality can be attributed to his father and his mother was
instrumental in kindling his emotional instincts.
W. B. Yeats, in his boyhood was actually ugly and lanky and
therefore he was often ridiculed by the boys in the school. This made him
very self-conscious. He often ran away from school and was also severely
punished at home but to no avail.

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W. B. Yeats: “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death” Unit 5

In 1876, Yeats’ family shifted to London but he stayed back and spent
his carefree days in the magical countryside in Ireland with his grandparents
.The beauty of the place kindled his emotions and for the first time he started
expressing his thoughts in verse.
Skepticism : Doubt.
Here,in the country-side he was introduced to and fascinated by Irish Helen of Troy :Helen is
folklore, fairy tales and the supernatural tales and he tried to blend these regarded as the most
beautiful woman in
aspects into his poetry. When his family returned again in1880, he was Greek mythology. So in
sent to Harcourt High School in Dublin. His father’s skepticism had an Greek mythology Helen
better known as Helen
effect on him and he criticised Christianity outright. He was soon disgusted of Sparta or Helen of
with school-life and gave up school. But he enjoyed reading books by Balzac, troy was the daughter of
Zeus and Leda, wife of
Shakespeare, Shelley, Keats, and others and their perusal left a deep king Menelaus of
impression on his mind. Sparta. Her abduction
by Paris brought about
Yeats later joined an art school and made friends with the well the Trojan War. Helen
known philosopher George Russell. It was through Edward Dowden, a was described by
Christopher Marlowe as
prominent writer, that some of his earliest poems were published. having ‘the face that
In 1889, he published The Wanderings of Oissin and other poems. launched a thousand
ships’.
This volume is an outstanding landmark in the poetic career of Yeats. It Rhymer’s Club :A
was during this period that Yeats came into contact with Maud Gonne, the group of poets who met
at the Chesshire
daughter of an English colonel and a revolutionary. She remained a constant Cheese in Fleet Street
source of inspiration for him and he often symbolised her as Helen of Troy. between 1891 and
1894. It included its
It was during this period that he developed an interest in Indian theology as founders Ernest Rhys
a result of his friendship with the Indian Purohit Swami who helped him in and W.B.Yeats, Richard
Le Galliene, Ernest
translating the Upanishads. Dowson, Lionel
Johnson, Arthur
He joined the Rhymer’s Club in 1891 and showed keen interest
Symons, John
in “aestheticism” and the French Symbolist movement. Davidson, T. W.
R o l l e s t o n ,
In 1896 he met Lady Gregory who became, for nearly forty years, a
SelwynImage and
friend, patron and a co worker along with the dramatist, J. M. Synge. These Edwin Ellis.
Aestheticism: It is the
two cast a lasting impression on his life, his personality and poetry.
term given to a
And in the year 1902, he started working for the Irish National movement, a cult, a
mode of sensibility (a
Theatre. He worked there till 1910. Since he was involved in many
way of looking at and
controversies he left everything and turned to poetry. After the death of John feeling about things) in
the 19th century.
Macbride, husband of Maud Gonne, he again proposed to her but she
refused. The disillusionment of his failure in love is clearly reflected in the
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Unit 5 W. B. Yeats: “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”

poems written during this period. In the year 1916 he was offered the
Knighthood by the British government.
In 1917, he married Miss George Hyde Lees whom he had known
for some years. His marriage brought stability to his life and it also proved
to be the starting point of an altogether unexpected combination of the
romantic and the realistic strains of his poetry. He lived a blissful married
life with a daughter born in 1919 and a son in the year 1921. Along with the
stability in his life came the maturity of his style.
Mrs Yeats attempted automatic writing and she produced odd
sentences on subjects of which she knew nothing. Yeats was excited and
Automatic writing : stimulated and he spent hours in interpreting the “automatic script”. Yeats
writing which is
was the co-founder of the Abbey Theatre and served as an Irish senator for
attempted without
conscious control. In a few years. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. During
this poem it is the
the last phase of his life he sank into disillusionment and a sense of defeat
writing of MrsYeats
which came to her and inadequacy enveloped him. In fact this sense of disillusionment led
without any effort. She
just went on writing in a
him to produce some of his best poetry. In the year 1927-28, he fell ill with
state of trance under the consumption and though he recovered temporarily, he succumbed to this
influence of some
supernatural agency.
grave illness on January 28, 1939. He was buried in the churchyard at
Yeats was fascinated by Drumcliff, near County Sligo. The epitaph on his gravestone reads: Cast a
this sort of writing. He
accepted this automatic cold eye on life, on death. Horseman, pass by. –W. B. Yeats.
writing as a
s u p e r n a t u r a l LET US KNOW
phenomenon.
Trojan war: In Greek Yeats dominated the literary world in Ireland as a poet,
mythology, the Trojan
war was waged against playwright, essayist, autobiographer. His main poetical works
the city of troy by the
from the Irish Renaissance are: In the Seven Woods (1904),
archaens after Paris of
troy stole Helen from The GreenHelmet and Other Poems (1910), Responsibilities (1914), The
her husband Menelaus,
Wild Swans at Coole (1919), and Michael Roberts and the Dancer (1921).
the King of Sparta.
Mysticism : religious or
spiritual belief that is not 5.3.2 His Works
clearly defined.
Let us now, survey the major works of W. B. Yeats. His first
publication was a play, Mosado(1886) and two years later he began with
The Wandering of Oisin, a series of ballads and poems that established

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his reputation. His important poetical works like The Rose (1893),The Wind
Among the Reeds (1899) was formed from his knowledge of Irish folklore
and folktales, and his interest in mysticism and the occult. Irish history and
the recent surge in Irish nationalism, together with his adoration of the
nationalist Maud Gonne formed the major basis of his second phase of
writing style which became less lilting and incantatory as seen in In the
Seven Woods (1903), The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910), Poems:
Written in Disappointment (1913), and Responsibilities: Poems and a Play
(1914).
An experiment with automatic writing eventually produced the
system of mystical symbols elaborated in A Vision (1925), which articulate
many of the poems in collections such as Michael Robartes and the Dancer
(1921), Seven Poems and a Fragment (1922), The Cat and the Moon and
Certain Poems (1924), The Tower (1928), and The Winding Stairs and Other
Poems (1933).

LET US KNOW

Yeats was greatly impressed by the poems of Rabindranath

Tagore and was largely instrumental in getting the Gitanjali
translated into English and published in England. He contributed an
appreciative introduction to the English edition of Gitanjali.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q.1. Name the major influences on Yeats as a
poet?
Q.2. Which part of Yeats’s life will be important
for the study of the given poem?
Q.3. Which collection of his poetry contains the poem “An Irish Man
Foresees His Death”?

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Unit 5 W. B. Yeats: “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”

5.4 THE TEXT OF THE POEM

“An Irishman Foresees His Death”

I Know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Meet my fate : I shall
Those that I fight I do not hate
be killed in action.
Those that I guard I do not love;
Fight, Guard : Here
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
it refers to Airman of
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
the defence services.
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public man, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Cheering crowds : Drove to this tumultin the clouds;
crowds of people I balanced all, brought all to mind,
who applaud. The years to come seemed waste of breath,
Impulse : sudden A waste of breath the years behind
inclination to act In balance with this life, this death.
without thinking
about results.
Tumult : disturbance 5.4.1 Context of the Poem
caused by battle.
This is rather a thought-provoking poem on Major Robert Gregory,
Brought all to mind
who was the son of one of Yeats’s friends. Robert Gregory was killed in
: considered
Italy during the First World War in 1918. The poem was written during the
everything.
First World War (1914-1919) when many Irish men fought for the cause of
Waste of breath:
Englishmen. The poem is taken from the collection The Wild Swans At
useless.
Coole. During the first World War, Ireland was a part of “Great Britian”. It
became a separate nation later in1922. Therefore, when Gregory died, he
actually died for the “English”, not for the “Irish”. The pilot sees his
forthcoming death yet he does not seem regretful or scared, but rather
accepts the fate he is going to encounter.

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5.4.2 Explanation of the Poem

This poem captures the mind of an airman confronting death. This

insight is what makes the poem memorable. This poem is about an Irish
pilot fighting in the war and anticipating his imminent death. He is prepared
to die after reflecting on his life. He realises that it has been a waste of time.
This is reflected in the line, “A waste of breath the years behind / In balance
with this life, this death.” (Yeats).
It was the life of adventure that prompted the Irish airman to fight.
He was totally disgusted with the monotony of daily life and he sought the
thrill of the Air Force. He explicitly states that it was not under any obligation
for the country nor the inspiring speeches of the leaders or the cheering of
the crowds that provoked him to fight in the battlefield. It was simply the
thrill of the battlefield or adventure that pushed him to take up the job of an
Airman.
Its must be noted that being an Irish-man Robert Gregory did not
have any deep love for England. His country is Kiltartan’s Cross, his Airman : pilot or
member of an aircraft
countrymen “Kiltartan’s poor”. He says that whatever is the outcome in the crew, especially in an
war it will make their lives no worse or better than before the war began. airforce.
Kiltartan’sCross : a
The airman lists every factor weighing upon his situation and his vision of name typical of Irish
villages. The Kiltartan
death. He rejects every possible factor he believes to be false: he does not
Cross was a group of
hate or love his enemies or his allies, his country will neither be benefited Roman Catholics that
were directly related to
nor hurt by any outcome of the war. He does not fight for political or moral the Air Force.
motives but because of his “impulse of delight”. His past life seems a waste,
while his future life promises to be the same and his death will balance out
his life. He feels that only death in war can balance his life of dullness.
Don’t you think that the expression, “A lonely impulse of delight /
Drove to this tumult in the clouds”contains the entire perception of W. B.
Yeats? Don’t you think that this poem is inspiring and can rouse plenty of its
readers from lethargy? It can serve as the stimulus or incentive to take up
a life of adventure.

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Unit 5 W. B. Yeats: “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”

LET US KNOW

We can draw a similarity between “An Irish man Foresees

his Death”and “The Wrecker Driver Foresees Your Death,”
by David Baker in the sense that it readily hints at the
foreshadowing of death. Baker uses the second-person pronoun “you”
to warn his readers as well as the poem’s reflective speaker, active
speaker, reminding all of us of our mortality :
Looking at the rows of cars wrinkled
like wads of paper,
windshields webbed with cracks,
oil still oozing from the fresh ones
hauled in the night before, ………
(“The Wrecker Driver Foresees Your Death” by David Baker)

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q.4. Explain the importance of the lines “Those
That I fight I do not Hate / Those that I guard I do not
love”.
Q.5. Explain what the poet mean by ‘A lonely impulse of delight/
Drove to this tumult in the clouds’.
Q.6. Fill in the blanks :
Nor ...................., Nor ....................bade me fight,
Nor ...................., Nor ....................cheering ....................
A ....................impulse of ....................
Drove to this ....................in the clouds.

ACTIVITY 5.1
1. Imagine yourself as an airman fighting for your country
and express your patriotic feelings in a few sentences.

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CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q.7. “I know that I shall meet my fate?’’ What is
the “fate” he will meet? Is it going to be death with
honour?
Q.8. Explain the metaphor “Drove to this tumult in the clouds.”
Q.9. Explain :
a) “Cheering crowds”
b) “impulse”
c) “tumult”
Q.10. Why does he call the impulse, an “impulse of delight”? What
does “delight” imply here?

ACTIVITY 5.2
1. Can you think of some other poem where a first person
voice is used?

5.5 STYLE AND LANGUAGE

The language of Yeats’s poetry is plain and has the simplicity of

everyday speech. He expresses ideas briefly and sharply. The language of
the poem is simple and suggestive. The poem is recited in first person
which makes the poem more interesting to read. The poem is written in a Epigrammatic :
colloquial, pointed, epigrammatic and conversational style. This short concise and wetly.
Iambic tetrameter :
sixteen-line poem has a very simple structure: lines are metered in iambic unstressed syllable
followed a stressed
tetrameter, and four grouped quatrains of alternating rhymes: syllable with four feet.
ababcdcdefefghgh. Words were chosen carefully to fit the rhyme scheme Quatrains : A stanza of
four lines, rhymed or
and to make it more interesting to the reader. The simple form of the poem unrhymed.
reflects the simple theme of the poem.
You have already learnt the poem “When You Are Old” by Yeats.
By now you must have understood how the poet employs some poetic
techniques. In this poem he uses metaphor to make contrasts and
comparisons. The metaphor “Drove to this tumult in the clouds”. (Yeats)

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Unit 5 W. B. Yeats: “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”

explains that the speaker had reached the zenith of his flight as well as the
zenith of his life. From here he will encounter his death.
Another example of a metaphor presented in this poem is “A waste
of breath the years behind.” (Yeats). This is a metaphor which compares
the years that have passed and how they were a waste of time. An example
Metaphor : a figure of
speech in which an of irony found in the poem is when he says he does not love or want to
expression is used to
protect the people of his country, yet when people go to war they usually
refer to something that
it doesnot literally fight for the honour of their country. Don’t you think that the title of the poem
denote in order to
suggest a similarity. is suggestive? The title of the poem “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”
Irony : the use of words
reflects the fact that the airman foresaw his impending death. This is
that say the opposite of
what you really mean. significant because it reflects the fate of many people fighting on the war-
front anticipating their death.
You can see that this poem is recited in first-person. The poet is
recounting the thoughts that are going through his mind as his death
approaches. This choice of voice i.e. “active voice” is important because it
gives an insight into the thoughts of the airman fighting on the verge of
death. It is the poet who is imagining these thoughts. As he does so he
brings up related ideas and questions.

LET US KNOW

English is a language of stresses i.e. stress-timed rhythm,

which means that the stress syllables come at
approximately equal intervals of time, regardless of the number of the
intervening unstressed syllables. Metre is the term used to indicate the
number of stressed syllables that form beats (or feet) and the arrangement
of stressed and unstressed syllables in each line of a poem. Most of
English poetry is written in this metre and to comprehend metrical patterns
it is important to enjoy poetry .Lets take a sentence like
“A Change of air would do you good”
u / u / u / u /
This kind of rhythm is called iambic metre.

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W. B. Yeats: “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death” Unit 5

IGNOU BOOKLET–BEGE-101
(From Language to Literature –Literary Devices)
And
Marjorie Boulton’sThe Anatomy of Poetry

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q.11. The poem is written in a ....................style (tick
the most appropriate one)
a) complex b) pointed c) musical
Q.12. Can you find out which syllables are
stressed in : “A waste of breath the years behind”?
Q.13. What are the main thoughts of the speaker in the lines “A waste
of breath the years behind”.

5.6 LET US SUM UP

After going through this unit, you have learnt that W. B. Yeats
was one of the greatest modern English poets. He can truly be regarded as
the poet of the Irish literary revival. “An Irish Airman Foresees Death” inspires
readers to wake up from lethargy and move towards an exciting and
meaningful life. It also looks at some basic human situations and experiences
of life. You then learn about the poetic techniques employed by the poet and
also about the style and language. You should now be able to illustrate,
explain and appreciate W. B. Yeats’ poetry in general and the poem in
particular effectively.

5.7 FURTHER READING

1) IGNOU. Understanding Poetry.IGNOU : New Delhi, 1991.

2) Larrisy, Edward (1998). W. B. Yeats. Tavistock North Cote House.

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Unit 5 W. B. Yeats: “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”

4) Poduri Dattatreya (2000). W. B. Yeats Poet and Dramatist. Jaipur

Pointer Publisher.
4) Singh, M. P. (2003). W. B. Yeats : His Poetry and Politics New
Delhi Atlantic

5.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Ans to Q No 1: Intellectual side of personality (father), emotional instincts

(mother), beauty of the magical contryside in Ireland with his grand parents
shaped his early expression
Ans to Q No 2: Refer to 5.3.1 His Life 5.3.2 His Works
Ans to Q No 3:TheWild Swans at Coole
Ans to Q No 4: Refer to 5.4.2 Explanation of the Poem.
Ans to Q No 5: Refer to 5.4.2 Explanation of the Poem.
Ans to Q No 6: Law, duty, public man, cheering crowds, lonely, delight,
tumult.
Ans to Q No 7: Refer to 5.4.2 Explanation of the Poem and 5.5 Style and
Language.
Ans to Q No 8: Refer to 5.5 Style and Language.
Ans to Q No 9: Cheering Crowds : crowds of people who applaud
Impulse : sudden inclination to act without thinking about results.
Tumult : Disturbance caused by battle
Ans to Q No 10: Refer to 5.4.2 Explanation of the Poem.
Ans to Q No 11: (b) Pointed
Ans to Q No 12: Refer to 5.5 Style and Language
Ans to Q No 13: A metaphor which compares the years that have passed
and how they were a waste of time (to elaborate.)

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5.9 MODEL QUESTIONS

Q.1. Write in about 100 words the substance of the poem “An Irish
Airman Foresees His Death”.
Q.2. Discuss the life and works of W.B. Yeats.
Q.3. Discuss the style and language employed by the poet in this poem.
Q.4. Name in the light of the poem, some of the reasons that may
force a man to fight?
Q.5. Comment on the feelings of the airman for the cause of his fighting?
Q.6. Comment on the greatness of W. B. Yeats as a modern poet.
Q7. Explain with reference to the context:
a) My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before
b) “A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds”

**********

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