An Irishman Forsees his dead: Yeat's embodiment of the unity of being

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An Irishman  Forsees his dead: Yeat's embodiment of the unity of being
Nefertari Vázquez Gómez.

This poem is a verbal embodiment of Yeats’ oumo universale in various aspects. This poem was written at the end of the Great War and talks about and it is told from the perspective of an Irish airmen before his dead in the sky.

It is widely accepted that the poem is based on Robert Gregory, to commemorate him. In this poem Yeats’ imagines Robert Gregory’s final moments before his dead in the sky. Considering this background, the poem, somehow, approaches, war. One of the components of a uomo universale.

Considering that a uoumo universal is an ideal man, Robert Gregory, being the Airmen, is idealized since the very beginning since, in the title he is gifted with foresight, by this he is given a sort of God-like omniscience. Reinforced in the first like, since the stress is in the word know. Then the place is given in the second line, and the vowel sound takes us to the sky among the clouds above then, the airman is elevated above the ordinary mortal human level, he is literally flying, idealized.

Lines 3 and 4 show at first that his motivations for participating in the war are not the common ones: whe feels no hate for those he is fighting (German) and no love for those he is guarding(Irish), in the next two lines he will tell us who he really loves.

Another aspect of a uomo universal is spirituality, which we can find and confirm (by repetition) when he mentions Kiltartan which is an Irish parrish, near where Robert Gregory lived, that is his place and his people, which shows humanity and empathy towards Kiltartan’s poors. His love is here, therefore, he is a lover, maybe not in the way we expect, but he is.

He continues to talk about his motivations in lines 9 and 10, telling us he is, once again not motivated by common social or political reasons (an uses repetition again to confirm his rejection), he is not doing it as an obligation by law (let’s remember that it is in The great War, when in Ireland they wanted to consider Military Service as mandatory), it is not a sense of duty, it is not because he is fallowing somebody else, or because of public recognition cheering crowds) but by an impulse of delight, maybe the delight of flying. We go back to the sky, with the vowel sound in this line, similar to line 2.

Finally, Yeats gives this Airman, and the poem, a great sense of balance, which may represent the exact sciences of the uomo universale.

At the poem level this balance can be find in the rime A,B,A,B. In the structure of four Quatrains it is very symmetric. Also, symmetry shows in the last 4 lines:

In line 13 the caesura splits the verse in half, with alliterative patterns: balanced all /b/ /a/, brought all /b/ /a/. In tines and   we have inversions and of course repetition. And finally, in the last line the caesura is placed in the moment between life and dead. This last quatrain is proportioned, harmonious. Somehow it resembles Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.


AN IRISH AIRMAN FORSEES HIS DEATH

W.B. Yeats

 

 

/   ●      /   ●  /        ●      /    ●

 

I know that I shall meet my fate

I know that I shall meet my fate

A

 

 

 

Somewhere among the clouds above;

Somewhere among the clouds above;

B

 

 

 

Those that I fight I do not hate,

Those that I fight I do not hate,

A

 

 

 

Those that I guard I do not love;

Those that I guard I do not love;

B

 

 

 

My country is Kiltartan Cross,

My country is Kiltartan Cross,

A

 

 

 

My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,

My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,

B

 

 

 

No likely end could bring them loss

No likely end could bring them loss

A

 

 

 

Or leave them happier than before.

Or leave them happier than before.

B

 

   /     ●     /   ● /     ●     /    ●

 

Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,

Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,

A

 

   /     ● /     ●      /        ●  /       ●

 

Nor public men, nor cheering crowds;

Nor public men, nor cheering crowds;

B

 

 

 

A lonely impulse of delight

A lonely impulse of delight

A

 

 

 

Drove to this tumult in the clouds

Drove to this tumult in the clouds

B

 

/     ●  /       ●  ‖     /         ● /    ●

 

I balanced all, brought all to mind

I balanced all,  ‖ brought all to mind

A

 

 

 

The years to come seemed waste of breath,

The years to come seemed waste of breath,

B

 

 

 

A waste of breath the years behind

A waste of breath the years behind

A

 

/     ●  /       ●      /   ●  ‖   /    ●

 

In balance with this life, this death

In balance with this life, this death

B

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