Manifestation Of Nationalism In William Butler Yeats’ Poems

Nationalism generally means patriotism. This is a concept of sovereignty of a particular nation. Once Albert Einstein stated that, “Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.” Nationalism flourished in Asia and Africa in the very beginning of the 20th century. In Europe, 19th century is depicted as the age of nationalism but 20th century observed the growth of nationalism through various powerful national movements in Asia and Africa. Modernism is a conservative regressive movement which is just the self-creation of intellectual elite classes. This era helped nationalism to flourish and is a period post World War 1. The 20th century witnessed two world wars, the devastation caused by the atomic bomb. There were urbanization and rapid developments in the fields of science and technology. The Modernism period became established as an eclectic school of literature. It privileges more interaction with the world and few of the factors which we notice in Modernist writings are self-consciousness, irony and experiments with form. The Nobel Laureate of 20th century, William Butler Yeats’ poetries are never so pessimistic. Few Modernist features which we find in Yeats’ poetry are skepticism about expressions, value of individual imagination. Throughout his life he was interested in supernatural elements. He then continues to write poetries on mythological means. This major modernist poet had cryptic references, oblique, dramatic and dense contents in his writings. Here, I have chosen two of Yeats’ poems namely “September 1913” and “Easter, 1916” for the portrayal of nationalism as an important feature of 20th century politics.

The poem “Easter, 1916” is a poem based upon the events of the Easter Rising in Ireland that was done against 24th April, 1916 called Easter Monday. Most of the Irish Republican leaders were executed and the uprising of the event was not even fully successful. While the United Kingdom was fighting the First World War, the Irish republicans launched the Easter Rising to end British rule in Ireland. In the first stanza of the poem, the poem narrator or the speaker talks about few committed nationalists who he has mentioned later. The poem had been mostly set up in Dublin. The speaker or the poem narrator is a little detached with the revolutionaries that we can understand from the phrase “polite meaningless words” in the first stanza of the poem. Although the narrator has met them at any posh clubs or else, he was always unaware of the fact that there was some kind of existence of republican militants behind those faces of little status. Here, Yeats has portrayed an emotional conflict and the English oppression. The poem itself questions Yeats about his true intentions. Yeats here talks about Patrick Pearse, Countless Markievicz, John MacBride (Major) and James Conolly in the second stanza. He first goes on taking the matters a little lightly and thus he says “Of a mocking tale or a gibe”. But later his mindset fully changes and then he says “All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born”. The phrase “A terrible beauty is born” is a refrain in the poem that is consisted of oxymoron. This oxymoronic refrain proves the poet’s point of view towards a revolution and its sufferings or effects. In the second stanza of the poem, Yeats’ has portrayed different contrasting features of the revolutionaries. When Yeats talks about Countless Markievicz, the female revolutionary of the poem, he compares her “shrill” voice as a revolutionary with the old “sweet” voice as a young woman. The poet says “she rode to harriers?” and that where lies the simplicity of the woman which is concealed by her revolutionary personality. It proves that there was a huge growth of nationalism and it became a great part of politics. When Yeats says “this man had kept a school/And rode our winged horse”, he differentiates between the normal and the revolutionary life of Patrick Pearse. Besides being a school teacher, he is a revolutionary who has a great role to play to bring the independence of Ireland. Yeats mentions Patrick Pearse as “sensitive” and admits that he has a “daring and sweet” thought. These are the few evidences through which we get a clear idea regarding the 20th century nationalist dedication and sentiments. Yeats also mentions about John MacBride with whom he had some personal conflict. Although Yeats depicts him as “vainglorious lout” he never forgets to mention that “He, too, has resigned his part / In the casual comedy” that particularly shows the sarcastic tone of Yeats. The poet emphasizes the oxymoronic phrase repeatedly “a terrible beauty is born”. He regrets the unnecessary or needless death of the brave hearts. “Hearts with one purpose alone” is the spirit of the revolutionaries with only single purpose in their life. Yeats expresses his painful feeling of unnecessary loss of life by mentioning “For England may keep faith/For all that is done and said.” Yeats believes that England would let them free post world war, then what is the point of fighting or executing the Rising and loosing lives. He in some sense mocks the fixed one-minded revolutionary spirit and regrets the deaths. “Too long a sacrifice/Can make a stone of the heart” – here, the poet talks about the eternal spirit of the revolutionaries which must be turned to eternal remembrance post death of the revolutionaries. They should be remembered through ages post independence from the British colonialism. At the end of the poem “Easter, 1916”, Yeats resigned the fact that “wherever green in worn”. Thus in every other way it the background or the theme of the poem proves that nationalism had a great role to play in 20th century politics. The Irish Republican movement somehow brought the outstanding spirit among the eternal heroes for the growth of nationalism and that ultimately became a major part of politics. We find a huge conflict between personal fulfillment and public sacrifice in the poem “Easter, 1916”. 

Similarly, the poem “September 1913” expresses his ambivalent outlook towards Irish Republican movement or the Irish nationalism. Yeats personally never supported violence as a course of action in order to achieve any political independence from the British colonization. Yeats always believed the Irish nationalism to be the most intellectual movement that could be fought with the pen. The readers through ages have always been attracted to Yeats’ writings because of his differing concepts. While people and scholars have regarded him as one of the greatest poets, Yeats also faced criticisms from people who called him a British supporter. Yeats had always admired an Irish freedom fighter, John O’Leary and has constantly repeated the name of this Irish Republican in his poem “September1913”. This poem written during the “Dublin Lockout” of 1913 and here, Yeats portrays the cowardice of the people compared to the national martyrs of the past. Yeats never fails to mock the grabbling or materialistic mentality of the Roman Catholic middle classes. The phrases “… fumble in a greasy till/ And add the halfpence to the pence” shows the mocking attitude of Yeats towards greedy Irish society. Again he expresses his anger and frustration when he says “but let them be, they’re dead and gone”. He strongly believes that all attempts made by the eternal heroes of the Irish Republic movement are pointless or inefficacious. This poem clearly manifests Yeats hatred for the coward middle class of the Irish Society. 

There is a close relationship between the art and politics in Yeats’ works. Yeats believed his pen to be the strongest tool for commenting on Irish politics. His poems were all written in a jingoistic tone. Other poems of Yeats like “The Second Coming”, “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death” also include some ideas of Irish nationalism. Yeats actively participated in Irish politics through his poetry by using the differing images of war and chaos of the 20th century nationalism.

References

• Nationalism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalism 20th March, 2020.
• The Britannica Guide to Theories and Ideas That Change the Modern World, edited by Kathleen Kuiper, Manager, Arts and Culture, Britannica Educational Publishing, 2010.
• Yeats, William Butler, “September1913” and “Easter, 1916” https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/september-1913-and-easter-1916
• Kiyci, Hale, Yeats’ Ambivalence towards Irish nationalism in “September1913” and “Easter1916”, 2014.