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Easter, 1916Short story by W. B. Yeats

Flashcards for Easter, 1916

31 cards · 6 characters · 9 key quotes · 4 symbols · 12 literary devices. Nothing is saved and nothing is asked for — close the tab and the deck resets.

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Characters · 6

  1. Constance Markievicz

    Constance Markievicz is one of four figures spotlighted in W. B. Yeats's elegy "Easter 1916," honored for her role in the Easter Rising.

    character

  2. James Connolly

    James Connolly is one of four martyrs mentioned in W. B. Yeats's elegy "Easter 1916," appearing in the poignant final stanza of the poem.

    character

  3. John MacBride

    John MacBride holds a distinctly mixed position in W. B. Yeats's elegy "Easter 1916."

    character

  4. Patrick Pearse

    Patrick Pearse is featured in W. B. Yeats's elegy "Easter 1916" as one of four martyrs mentioned in the poem's powerful final stanza.

    character

  5. Thomas MacDonagh

    Thomas MacDonagh is one of the four martyrs remembered in W. B. Yeats's elegy "Easter 1916" for his part in the Easter Rising.

    character

  6. W. B. Yeats (the speaker)

    W. B. Yeats serves as a witness, elegist, and moral interrogator in "Easter 1916."

    character

Key quotes · 9

  1. “I have met them at close of day / Coming with vivid faces”

    These lines open W. B. Yeats's elegy "Easter, 1916," composed shortly after the Easter Rising in Ireland.

    W. B. Yeats (lyric speaker) · Stanza 1

  2. “All changed, changed utterly: / A terrible beauty is born.”

    These closing lines of W. B. Yeats's poem "Easter 1916" act as a haunting refrain, echoed with variations throughout the poem and hitting hard at the end.

    W. B. Yeats (poetic speaker) · Easter 1916

  3. “Too long a sacrifice / Can make a stone of the heart.”

    These lines are spoken by the poem's speaker — often considered to be W. B. Yeats himself — in "Easter 1916," which he wrote right after the Easter Rising in Ireland.

    W. B. Yeats (the poem's speaker) · Stanza 3

  4. “Was it needless death after all? / For England may keep faith”

    These lines come from W. B. Yeats's elegy "Easter 1916," written right after the Easter Rising in Dublin.

    W. B. Yeats (lyric speaker)

  5. “We know their dream; enough / To know they dreamed and are dead.”

    These lines come from William Butler Yeats, the speaker in "Easter, 1916," which he wrote right after the Easter Rising and published in 1921.

    William Butler Yeats (the poem's speaker) · Easter, 1916

  6. “I write it out in a verse— / MacDonagh and MacBride / And Connolly and Pearse”

    These lines come near the climax of W. B. Yeats's elegy "Easter 1916," which he wrote shortly after the Easter Rising and published in 1921.

    W. B. Yeats (lyric speaker) · Stanza 4 (final stanza)

  7. “O when may it suffice? / That is Heaven's part, our part / To murmur name upon name”

    These lines are from W. B. Yeats's elegy "Easter, 1916," which he wrote shortly after the Easter Rising in Ireland and published in 1921.

    W. B. Yeats (the poetic speaker) · Stanza 4

  8. “Hearts with one purpose alone / Through summer and winter seem / Enchanted to a stone”

    These lines are spoken by the poem's speaker — W. B. Yeats — in "Easter, 1916," which he wrote shortly after the Easter Rising in April 1916 and published in 1921.

    W. B. Yeats (the poem's speaker) · Stanza 3

  9. “Wherever green is worn, / Are changed, changed utterly: / A terrible beauty is born.”

    These closing lines of W. B. Yeats's poem "Easter, 1916" act as a haunting refrain, growing more intense as the poem unfolds.

    W. B. Yeats (poetic narrator)

Symbols · 4

  1. The Cloud

    In W. B. Yeats's "Easter 1916," the cloud represents the fleeting, constantly changing aspects of daily life and the natural world, contrasting sharply with the unchanging nature of revolutionary sacrifice.

  2. The Green (Ireland)

    In "Easter 1916," the green of Ireland symbolizes the nation's vibrant identity — its ancient landscape, its pastoral continuity, and the revolutionary hope intertwined with both.

  3. The Living Stream

    In W. B. Yeats's "Easter 1916," the living stream represents the ongoing, natural flow of everyday life—ever-changing, spontaneous, and vibrant.

  4. The Stone

    In W. B. Yeats's "Easter 1916," the stone in the middle of a flowing stream serves as the poem's key symbol of revolutionary zeal and its consequences.

Literary devices · 12

  1. Refrain

    The line "A terrible beauty is born" appears at the end of each stanza, grounding the entire poem.

  2. Oxymoron

    'A terrible beauty is born' encapsulates the poem's central oxymoron and is arguably its most analyzed line.

  3. Elegy

    The poem serves as a public elegy for the leaders executed following the Easter Rising, specifically naming Patrick Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh, John MacBride, and James Connolly in the fourth stanza: "I write it out in a verse — / MacDonagh and MacBride / And Connolly and Pearse."

  4. Symbolism

    The stone in the third stanza — 'Hearts with one purpose alone / Through summer and winter seem / Enchanted to a stone' — serves as the poem's key symbol.

  5. Imagery

    The third stanza paints a vibrant picture of nature — 'The horse that comes from the road, / The rider, the birds that range / From cloud to tumbling cloud' — illustrating the sacrifices made by the revolutionary spirit.

  6. Irony

    The opening stanzas are filled with a sense of retrospective irony.

  7. Juxtaposition

    Yeats builds the poem around contrasts: the 'motley' everyday life of Dublin before the Rising versus the grim reality that follows; the ever-changing flow of life against the unyielding nature of stone; his private dislike for people contrasted with his public respect for their actions.

  8. Rhetorical Question

    The fourth stanza focuses on a series of rhetorical questions: 'Was it needless death after all? / For England may keep faith / For all that is done and said?' and 'What if excess of love / Bewildered them till they died?'

  9. Allusion

    The title makes a reference to the Christian feast of Easter and its themes of death and resurrection.

  10. Anaphora

    The second stanza builds on the anaphoric repetition of 'This man' and 'This other': 'This man had kept a school / And rode our wingèd horse, / This other his helper and friend.'

  11. Paradox

    Beyond the contradictory phrase 'terrible beauty,' the poem revolves around a more profound paradox: the unwavering, stone-like commitment that empowered the rebels to instigate revolution also rendered them less human and arguably less admirable.

  12. Motif

    The motif of transformation—change, becoming, being 'changed utterly'—is present in every stanza.