W.B. Yeats, Irish Independence, and Literary Movements
The Road to Irish Independence: 1903–1949 Timeline
- 1903: King Edward VII visited Ireland.
- 1905: Sinn Féin was formed by Arthur Griffith. It encouraged the setting up of an Irish parliament.
- 1908: Patrick Pearse, a poet and teacher, founded St. Enda’s School to teach the Irish spirit.
- 1912: The Third Home Rule Bill passed through the House of Commons.
- 1913: The Irish Volunteers were founded.
- 1914: The Home Rule Bill was finally passed by the House of Lords, but its implementation was postponed until the end of the war.
- 1916: The Easter Rising. The Military Council planned the rising. The General Post Office was chosen as the rising’s headquarters, and Patrick Pearse proclaimed the Republic. Casualties included 318 civilians, 60 rebels, and 130 British troops. The rebellion lasted nearly a week. In May, the rising leaders were executed.
- 1917: Éamon de Valera became the leader of the new Sinn Féin.
- 1918: Sinn Féin swept nationalist Ireland in the general election.
- 1919: An Irish parliament, the Dáil, was established by Sinn Féin. The War of Independence began.
- 1920: Ireland was partitioned, and Northern Ireland was established.
- 1921: The Anglo-Irish Treaty established the Irish Free State.
- 1922: The Irish Civil War broke out over the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
- 1923: The Free State forces were victorious in the Irish Civil War.
- 1949: The Free State became the Republic of Ireland.
W.B. Yeats: Biography, Themes, and Nationalism
Biographical Context
- Born into an upper-class Irish family, part of the Irish Protestant minority.
- Felt equally Irish and British.
- Involved with the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
- Co-founded the Abbey Theatre (a literary theatre, far from commercial interests).
- Defined the role of the artist as creating a new culture (the Ireland of the past).
- Wrote The Celtic Twilight essay, promoting the Irish Cultural Renaissance.
- Experienced disenchantment with the nationalist movement.
- Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923.
- Served as a Senator of the Dáil on behalf of the Protestant minority (threatened by the IRA).
- Focused on artistic imagination and national loyalty.
Major Themes
- Beauty and Eternity (BAE): The central focus.
- Death: Connected to BAE; the man dies.
- Loneliness: Connected with the heroic individual (different from the common man).
- Rebirth: The heroic individual overcomes defects, often many times before death (connected to the theme that man dies).
Nationalism
- Advocated for “an independent cultural identity” (more cultural than political).
- Observed the self-division between Irish Nationalists and Unionists.
Traditional vs. Modern Literary Techniques
Traditional Literature:
- Theme: Society and its problems and consequences (external focus).
- Novelist’s Task: The narrator is the mediator.
- Treatment of Time: Describing acts in chronological order.
- Narrative Technique: Third-person omniscient narrator.
Modern Literature:
- Theme: Psychology and analysis of the mind and thoughts (interior focus).
- Novelist’s Task: Reader lives objectively in order to give back a true image.
- Treatment of Time: Time was subjective and internal.
- Narrative Technique: Interior monologue and stream of consciousness.
Literary Vocabulary and Definitions
- Nostrils (n): The two external openings of the nasal cavity.
- Cripple (n): A person who is unable to walk properly because of a disability or injury.
- Blackthorn Stick (n): A thin piece of wood from a shrub.
- Nix (n): Put an end to / Nothing.
- Squabble (n): A noisy quarrel about something trivial.
- Squander (v): Waste in a reckless way.
- Elated (v): Make someone ecstatically happy.
- Lass (n): A girl, young woman.
- Laid Up (v): Set down.
- Strutting Back (v): Walk with a stiff, erect, arrogant way.
- Mused (adj/v): Be absorbed in thoughts.
- Lingered (v): Spend a long time over.
- Motley (adj): Incongruously varied in appearance or character; disparate.
- Nod (n): To incline or sway from the vertical as though ready to fall.