W.B Yeats Poems

I read this poem by W.B. Yeats when I was in high school and I can still remember the sorrow that I felt for this soldier.

The poem was written in 1918, it has 16 lines, the rhyme scheme is: ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH

I'm going to copy the poem here as I'm sure not everyone has read it before.

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

I know that I shall meet my fate

Somewhere among the clouds above;

Those that I fight I do not hate,

Those that I guard I do not love;

My country is Kiltartan Cross,

My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,

No likely end could bring them loss

Or leave them happier than before.

Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,

Nor public man, nor cheering crowds,

A lonely impulse of delight

Drove to this tumult in the clouds;

The years to come seemed a waste of breath,

A waste of breath the years behind

In balance with this life, this death.

I suppose the saddest thing about this poem, to me at least was the blatant disregard that the man has of his own life. He actually believes that his life is a waste and that nobody will be happy nor sad to never see him again.

I suppose what I took away from this poem is that we as human beings need to remember the virtue of loving others, whether it be a smile for a stranger or maybe directions given, we should always try our best to make others lives better and easier because we can never understand what they are going through and that smile might just make all the difference in the world to them.

Yeats has also written some amazing poems about love, such as the following which was published in 1916:

The Young Man's Song:

I whispered, "I am too young," And then, "I am old enough"; Wherefore I threw a penny To find out if I might love. "Go and love, go and love, young man, If the lady be young and fair," Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, I am looped in the loops of her hair. Oh, love is the crooked thing, There is nobody wise enough To find out all that is in it, For he would be thinking of love Till the stars had run away, And the shadows eaten the moon. Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, One cannot begin it too soon.

What I took from this poem is that love is as endless as the stars in the sky and there is nobody in the world who can completely understand it all but it is still unendingly beautiful.

Let me know what your favorite poem is in the comments

Thanks for reading xx