september 1913 (yeats)

Question 1

speaker has ax to grind with readers about state of irish politics

Question 2

contrasts their self interested and dutifully religious country men with famous irish revolutionaries who tried to free ireland from british rule

Question 3

implies greed, materialism and suffocating influence of catholic church made the emerging irish middle class complacent unwilling to bring cultural and political revolution

Question 4

in bitter rhetorical questions, speaker skewers the character of their middle class audience

Question 5

suggests that these people have no desire for anything beyond their self centered, workaday lives

Question 6

the middle class now only devote their time to financial matters and fulfilling religious duties

Question 7

small amts of money they transact (the “halfpence” and the “pence” sorted in the “greasy” register) and the sickly “shivering prayer” they make are a pittance. it doesn’t result in power or wealth or spiritual fulfillment

Question 8

they’re just petty, mind numbing distractions from what really matters to speaker

Question 9

double meaning when speaker says that “men were born to pray and save”
compared to dream of political indépendance, speaker sees little value in spending one’s life saving souls or saving money

Question 10

these pathetic priorities stand in contrast to deeds of nIrish revolutionaries like Edward Fitzgerald, Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone and “the wild geese” who fought and died for their political beoiefs

Question 11

even most celebrated Irish martyrs (“for whom the hangman’s rope was spun”) had “little time…. to pray,” since the lives of those who were committed to the cause were often cut short

Question 12

their faith was in future of nation not church or their bank accounts

Question 13

materialism and excess piety are mere distractions from what really matters to speaker : revolutionary change

Question 14

speaker given up on dream of “Romantic Ireland”, a fully indépendant nation rich with myth history and not tied to single religion

Question 15

romantic ireland died with john o leary who was known for his commitment to a secular irish state

Question 16

men like o’leary “were a different kind” than speakers contemporaries. they don’t have vision, principles or will to liberate their hkmeland

Question 17

their complacency fails to justify the sacrifices of those who fought and died for ireland’s independance

Question 18

even the quintessential figure or “Romantic Ireland” would go unrecognized by speakers contemporaries and would be looked down upon

Question 19

countrymen fail to measure up to the great irish revolutionaries of the past

Question 20

past men were motivated by their ideals to travel word and fight against impossible odds to free ireland even if they knew they’d die

Question 21

past men were selfless and self sacrificing unlike the people of modern iteland

Question 22

modern irish people probs scorn and dismiss those men for their commitment to the cause if they were still alive

Question 23

can’t fathom old revolutionaries love for a free ireland

Question 24

would criticize the men’s willingness to die and criticize them for valuing their lives so “lightly”

Question 25

intense idealistic patriotism of past seems like “delirium” to the contemporaries

Question 26

mythical figure Kathleen ni Houlihan (personification of romantic ireland) used to illustrate this

Question 27

speaker expects “you” would mistake her for just “some woman” with “yellow hair” who had seduced “those exiles”

Question 28

“you” couldn’t even recognize her let alone appreciate what she represents: the kind of idealism and sacrificed that spur revolutionary change

Question 29

“Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone” sounds like a foregone conclusion, but by holding mirror to audience it might be the thing that inspires them to act

Question 30

poem issues implicit challenge to its readers: who will rise and prove the speaker wrong?

Question 31

form and rhyme

Answer 31

ballad form ab, ab

Question 32

rhyme

Answer 32

simple rhyme may be there to make words more memorable as rhyme helps us link words together and aids memory

Question 33

first stanza directly address reader: “what need you” this involves reader and makes it more personal so they may take away more significance from poem

Question 34

“add the halfpence to the pence”

Answer 34

repetition of “pence” could be used to emulate their repetitive lives

Question 35

repitition

Answer 35

“it’s with O’Leary in the grave” and “dead and gone” this with the constant rhyme works to emphasize the message of the poem

Question 36

metaphor “dried the marrow from the bone?”

Answer 36

may show that they’re sucking the life out of ireland and it’s society

Question 37

rhetorical questions

Answer 37

used throughout to make reader feel more involved gives a moment to stop and question their own actions, makes them wonder if they could be responsible

Question 38

irony

Answer 38

“born to pray and save” points out that men have lived to save ireland but ireland is complete opposite of what they intended it to be highlights selfish nature of ireland now

Question 39

language

Answer 39

throughout seems depressing “grave”, “dead”, “loneliness” reflect the state of the country

Question 40

metaphor “wild geese spread”

Answer 40

shows that while people were leaving, heroes like those mentioned were fighting for their country to give others freedom

Question 41

tone

Answer 41

changes in final stanza from anger and frustration to sadness “but let them be, they’re dead and gone” shows that he even knows it’s time to let go and face reality ireland has changed and he can’t do anything. ireland is truly “dead and gone”