"An Irish Airman Foresees His Death" is a

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

poet

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

(1865–1939), written in 1918 and first published in the Macmillan edition of ''

The Wild Swans at Coole ''The Wild Swans at Coole'' is the name of two collections of poetry by W. B. Yeats, published in 1917 and 1919. Publication history ''The Wild Swans at Coole'', a collection of twenty-nine poems and the play ''At the Hawk's Well'', was first p ...

'' in 1919.Pierce 2000 p.274 The poem is a

soliloquy A soliloquy (, from Latin ''solo'' "to oneself" + ''loquor'' "I talk", plural ''soliloquies'') is a monologue addressed to oneself, thoughts spoken out loud without addressing another. Soliloquies are used as a device in drama to let a character ...

given by an

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in which the narrator describes the circumstances surrounding his imminent death. The poem is a work that discusses the role of Irish soldiers fighting for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

during a time when they were trying to establish independence for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Wishing to show restraint from publishing political poems during the height of the war, Yeats withheld publication of the poem until after the conflict had ended.Foster 2001 pp.68 –69

Poem

I know that I shall meet my fate Somewhere among the clouds above; Those that I fight I do not hate Those that I guard I do not love; My country is Kiltartan Cross, My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor, No likely end could bring them loss Or leave them happier than before. Nor law, nor duty bade me fight, Nor public men, nor cheering crowds, A lonely impulse of delight Drove to this tumult in the clouds; I balanced all, brought all to mind, The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath the years behind In balance with this life, this death.

Background and interpretation

The airman in the poem is widely believed to be Major Robert Gregory, a friend of Yeats and the only child of

Lady Augusta Gregory Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (''née'' Persse; 15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932) was an Irish dramatist, folklorist and theatre manager. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre, ...

Structure

The poem contains 16 lines of text arranged in

iambic tetrameter Iambic tetrameter is a poetic meter in ancient Greek and Latin poetry; as the name of ''a rhythm'', iambic tetrameter consists of four metra, each metron being of the form , x – u – , , consisting of a spondee and an iamb, or two iambs. There ...

. The

rhyme scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB rh ...

is arranged in four quatrains of ABAB.

Allusions

The poem is featured on the Yeats tribute album '' Now and in Time to Be'', where it is sung by

Shane MacGowan Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan (born 25 December 1957) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Celtic punk band the Pogues. He was also a member of the Nipple Erectors and Shane MacGo ...

of the

rock group A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, ...

The Pogues The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse". T ...

. The British rock group Keane based their song "

A Bad Dream "A Bad Dream" is a song by English rock band Keane appearing as the fifth track on their second album, ''Under the Iron Sea''. It was released on 22 January 2007 as the fifth and final single from the album. The song peaked at No. 23 in the UK S ...

" (featured on the album ''

Under the Iron Sea ''Under the Iron Sea'' is the second studio album by the English rock band Keane, released on 12 June 2006. During its first week on sale in the UK, the album opened at number one, selling 222,297 copies according to figures from the Official ...

'') on it, and a recording of the poem, read by

Neil Hannon Edward Neil Anthony Hannon (born 7 November 1970) is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter. He is the creator and front man of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy, and is the band's sole constant member. Hannon wrote the theme tunes for t ...

The Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

, is played before the song at live venues, explaining their reasons for the lyrics. Hannon appeared in person to read it at the Keane gig at The Point Depot in Dublin (now known as the

3Arena The 3Arena (originally The O2) is an indoor amphitheatre located at North Wall Quay in the Dublin Docklands in Dublin, Ireland. The venue opened as The O2 on 16 December 2008. It was built on the site of the former Point Theatre, a smaller music ...

) on 19 July 2007 and again at The O₂ on 21 July 2007, though the poem's title and author went unmentioned. In 2011 the poem was included on the Waterboys album ''

An Appointment with Mr Yeats ''An Appointment with Mr. Yeats'' is the tenth studio album by The Waterboys, released on 19 September 2011 through W14/Proper Records. The album contains 14 tracks, all of which are based upon the poetry of W.B. Yeats, a long term influence on ...

'', a collection of Yeats poems set to music by Mike Scott.

In popular culture

In the movie '' Memphis Belle'', the character Sgt. Danny Daly, a crewman on a

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

recites the poem, omitting the lines referring to Ireland. In the movie '' Congo'', Dr. Peter Elliot says that his reason for teaching the ape to talk is "a lonely impulse of delight." The final four lines are quoted in the first episode of the second series of the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

zombie drama ''

In the Flesh In the Flesh may refer to: Books * ''In the Flesh'' (2009 graphic novel), a collection of stories by Koren Shadmi Film and TV * ''In the Flesh'' (1998 film), an American gay-themed murder mystery film * ''In the Flesh'' (2003 film), an Indian ...

'' by the character Simon Monroe, who is played by Irish actor

Emmett J. Scanlan Emmett John Scanlan (born 31 January 1979) is an Irish actor. He is best known for playing Brendan Brady in '' Hollyoaks''. He appeared in the BBC Two drama ''The Fall'' in 2013 and 2014, Peaky Blinders Series 5 and Series 6, and '' Breakdown' ...

, to Kieren Walker, played by the English actor

Luke Newberry Luke Newberry (born 19 February 1990) is an English actor. He is best known for his leading role in the drama television series '' In the Flesh'' (2013–2014), which earned him a British Academy Television Award nomination. Early life Newber ...

. The song "

" by the English band Keane was inspired by the poem. The song appeared on their second studio album, ''

''. In his LP ''Branduardi canta Yeats'' (1986),

Angelo Branduardi Angelo Branduardi (born 12 February 1950) is an Italian folk/folk rock singer-songwriter and composer who scored relative success in Italy and European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Greece. Biography Branduardi wa ...

sings an Italian version of this poem. A line in

Pat Barker Patricia Mary W. Barker, (née Drake; born 8 May 1943) is an English writer and novelist. She has won many awards for her fiction, which centres on themes of memory, trauma, survival and recovery. Her work is described as direct, blunt and pl ...

's 2018 novel ''

The Silence of the Girls ''The Silence of the Girls'' is a 2018 novel by English novelist Pat Barker. It recounts the events of the ''Iliad'' chiefly from the point of view of Briseis. Plot summary The plot begins when Greeks led by Achilles sack Lyrnessus, describin ...

'' alludes to the poem: "Some of the girls, mainly those who’d been slaves in their previous lives, were genuinely indifferent. No likely end would bring them loss, or leave them happier than before." The playwright

John Patrick Shanley John Patrick Shanley (born October 13, 1950) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film ''Moonstruck''. His play, '' Doubt: A Parable'', won the 2005 Pulitzer P ...

used Yeats' phrase 'A Lonely Impulse of Delight' as the title of a humorous short play about a man who falls in love with a mermaid named Sally, who supposedly lives in a pond in New York's Central Park. The last stanza is referenced by

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

in the first chapter of his book The Discovery of India. https://ignca.gov.in/Asi_data/14765.pdf

Citations

References

*Cole, Sarah. "The Poetry of Pain". ''The Oxford Handbook of British and Irish War Poetry''. Ed Tim Kendall Oxford University Press: 2007 *Foster, R.F. ''The Irish Story: Telling Tales and Making it Up in Ireland''. London: Penguin 2001 *Pierce, David. ''Irish writing in the twentieth century: a reader''. Cork University Press: 2000 *Vendler, Helen. ''Our Secret Discipline.'' Cambridge: The

Belknap Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Airman Foresees His Death Poetry by W. B. Yeats Aviation poetry 1918 poems