- vividadjectiveChapter 1 →
Bright, animated, and full of life or energy — here describing the eager, intense expressions on the faces of the nationalists Yeats passes on the street.
“Coming with vivid faces / From counter or desk among grey / Eighteenth-century houses.”
- counternounChapter 1 →
A long flat surface in a shop or office where business is conducted; here it signals that these revolutionaries spent their days in ordinary clerical or trade work.
“Coming with vivid faces / From counter or desk among grey / Eighteenth-century houses.”
- mockingadjectiveChapter 1 →
Ridiculing or making fun of someone in a scornful, dismissive way, treating them as unworthy of serious attention.
- gibnounChapter 1 →
An archaic or dialect word for a taunt or jibe — a sharp, sarcastic remark meant to mock or belittle someone.
- ignorantadjectiveChapter 1 →
In Yeats's usage here, not merely uninformed but recklessly heedless — acting without wisdom or proper understanding of consequences.
- winged horsephraseChapter 1 →
A classical image of poetic inspiration and high artistic ambition, suggesting someone capable of soaring creative achievement.
- vaingloriousadjectiveChapter 1 →
Boastfully and excessively proud of oneself in a way that is empty and undeserved; conceited to the point of being contemptible.
- loutnounChapter 1 →
A rough, rude, and uncouth man; someone whose behaviour is crude and socially offensive.
- motleynounChapter 1 →
The multicoloured costume traditionally worn by a court jester or fool; to wear motley means to play the comedian or buffoon in everyday life.
- casual comedyphraseChapter 1 →
The light, unserious, day-to-day performance of ordinary social life, contrasted with the grave, purposeful commitment of revolutionary dedication.
- enchantedadjectiveChapter 1 →
Held under a spell or magical transformation; here describing how the hearts of the rebels have been utterly changed by their total devotion to a single cause.
- bewilderedadjectiveChapter 1 →
Completely confused and disoriented; in the poem this describes creatures or elements of nature that are lost or thrown off course.
- sacrificenounChapter 1 →
The giving up of one's life or freedom for a cause believed to be greater than oneself; here referring specifically to the rebels' willingness to die for Irish independence.
“Too long a sacrifice / Can make a stone of the heart.”
- needlessadjectiveChapter 1 →
Unnecessary; done without sufficient reason or justification — Yeats uses it to question whether the rebels' deaths could have been avoided.
- terrible beautyphraseChapter 1 →
A central paradox in the poem: something that is simultaneously horrifying and awe-inspiring — the violent, failed uprising has created a powerful, lasting myth that is both dreadful and magnificent.
“A terrible beauty is born.”
Easter, 1916Short story by W. B. Yeats