Easter 1916 Essay

This culminated in the Rebellion of 1798, lead by Wolfe Tone and the Society of United Irishmen, in which Hugh and Jimmy participated: “The road to Sligo. A spring morning. 1798. Going into battle” (445). But, as these characters soon discovered, the rebellion failed resulting in large executions and the passing of the Act of Union in 1800. This piece of legislation, effective from 1 January 1801, brought Ireland under the direct rule of the British Crown.

The IRA split into two groups; The official IRA who wanted to achieve a United Ireland, and the Provisional IRA who thought of the British Army as an army of occupation and believed violence was the answer and would achieve their goal. The Provisional IRA shot Gunner Curtis. He was the first British soldier to be killed in the Northern Ireland.

Adam Cooper started out as a fifteen-year-old boy, but became a fifteen-year-old man. In the beginning, Adam could not get along with his father, Moses Cooper, and truly believed that his father hated him. Moses was always getting on to Adam for everything he did. In Moses’ eyes his boy could do better than he let on if he would only apply himself a little bit more. “There was nothing that a Cooper man couldn’t do.”

Topic #2- Describe and analyze the role that community plays in the conflict of the novel. Does Fast see community as an important asset in the opening days of the Revolution?

The Easter Rising led to the arrests of approximately 3500 people. Although more than half were released after they were questioned; many received unfair trials or no trial at all. When the news broke to the Irish public about the treatment of the rebels, they also found out that there were 15 fifteen secret executions, of the leaders of the Uprising. The tables began to turn away from the War to the aid of the rebels as the truth came out. “The seven signatories of the proclamation of independence ( Pearse, Connolly, Clarke, MacDonagh, MacDermott, Plunkett, and Ceannt) were all executed to the outrage of the Irish

Everybody knows something about the American Revolution. But how many people know about the eerily similar, yet drastically different Irish Easter Rising and subsequent revolution? Causes, leaders, battles, treaties, resolutions, and effects are a part of every country. Sometimes they are similar, and other times not, as is the case with America and Ireland.

The start of the Irish’ peoples struggles began when the British came and destroyed their way of life. The Penal laws of 1691 stripped Irish Catholics of their freedoms by taking away their rights to become officers

Clearly, a large portion of the turmoil experienced during this type could be put down to the changing government of the period. Though democratically elected and in more direct control of the Irish nation, the Home Rule government what the Irish called the Free State in its first years was not as responsive to the people as some desired (Ferriter, n.d.). An effective civil service providing for many needs was set up, but the ruling party and government experienced internal strife over significant differences of opinion throughout this decade (Ferriter, n.d.). The government was a democracy, but a very young democracy, and with all of the problems that this youth entails in a newly freed and democratically empowered nation and population.

The war between the republicans and the unionists in Dublin, Ireland gets pretty serious when you read the story (based on an autobiography), "The Sniper" written by Liam O'Flaherty. The republicans want Ireland to stay as a part of the United Kingdom while the unionists want Ireland to be its own country. Because of this war, many people die because of snipers in the army. In my opinion, the sniper can be considered and is a hero. It is because of the reasons he is fighting for, he kills an old lady and his brother,

Identity is pivotal to the story and holds its own innate power, but what is even more pivotal is that the Irish do not necessarily all share the same views. The Irish find their history very important because it is the foundation of the language. Hugh says, “It is not the literal past, the ‘facts’ of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in language” (88). It is evident then that Hugh finds the historical meanings of

Irish independence has been fought for a long time ever since the British occupied Ireland in 1172. The King of England invaded and controlled Ireland. The invasion led to religious and territorial conflicts. There was an effort to create a church comparable to the Church of England in the 1500s. Catholics who live in Ireland were against the idea and a conflict for independence has emerged (Arena & Arrigo, 2004). The suppression of Irish nationalism by the British in the 20th century led to the creation of martyrs for the cause led by the Irish Republican Army (Combs, 2011).

For the perception of war in Easter 1916 it was a patriotic and collective force especially fighting for their nation. However, in An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, the Irishman though he was patriotic he makes war sound as though they had to go out of compulsion or was forced to go. Moreover the airman flew in the sky not only to fight but also to fulfill his desire. “Those that I fight I do not hate, Those that I guard I do not love” (Yeats, 1918). There is deep irony in this statement because Yeats says that those people who fight for his country and people are the courageous man whom the poet worships and he hates those people who always try to rule and make other people to follow them. This statement signifies Yeats hatred towards British country that conquered and ruled Ireland. Although they had positive thoughts towards Germany they were insisted to revolt against by the British. In Easter 1916, British colonized Ireland and harsh anti-Catholic law were passed upon Irish people, that led to increase in Irish Nationalism and it let to revolt in. So in this context, Yeats is talking about the British for being too offensive and it makes the people wonder how many Irish people suffered and had been killed during World War I. Around thirty five thousand Irish died in the First World War among one hundred forty

William 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.

As Yeats (1918) stated, “those that I fight do not hate, those that I guard I do not love,”here Ireland did not feel threaten by WWI and the Germans and he explains that he is not in both side because he is just a recruited British army but he belongs to his place Kilkartan. Moreover, he says that whether he is defeated or wins the war it has no any significance to his people or the place and he was fighting for Britain, who had oppressed the Irish for centuries. He is not on both sides, still he knows he will die as he is forced to fight although he is not on either side. This means, he joined the war without any feeling the sense of patriotism or hatred to any country. Gregory did not fight for any reason or cause because he comprehended the futility of war ushered by few politician and patriotic people for their own beneficiary without looking the goodness at large. Yeats (1918) wrote, “no likely end could bring them loss / or live them happier than before.” He also contemplated that the people will remain as it is without changes in their living standards whether the war comes to end or not.He knew that the outcome of the war is not going to have any impact on his

W.B. Yeat’s poem, Easter 1916, details the speaker’s feelings of Nationalism and heartache as he remembers those that he lost in the Easter Rising. As the speaker reflects on the time before the rising, he remembers not only how his life has changed but also how his friends and companions had transformed both in their character and in their state of being. The speaker uses metaphors to visualize the unchanging goal of Irish freedom and the coming of nights that bring about death and heartache. In this analysis, I will be focusing on the first and last stanzas of the poem. By comparing these two stanzas I will reflect on the literary devices used, as well as the differences of the speaker’s visuals from the beginning and end. Overall, the speaker