William Butler Yeats is a great Irish poet with links to both Ireland and the United States. His poem "Easter 1916" is considered by some to be one of the greatest poems of the first half of the twentieth century. The Easter 1916 uprising by the Irish Army against the controlling British Army was failed as the British Army took control of Dublin and killed many Irish nationalist leaders. William Butler Yeats writes "Easter 1916" and expresses his opinions about the uprising. Throughout the poem you observe Yeats" negative opinion of the uprising and also his understanding of its importance.
Poetry is often written by an author in times of war, struggle, and hardships. Poetry during a period of war can express the author's opinions toward war. Most poetry does not directly state the author's ideas and opinions. One way an author can show his opinion is through symbolism, which is the use of a symbol to show the authors main idea. There are also many other ways for an author to express his beliefs, for example, an author can use language and rhyme. The words a writer use and the sound of the rhyme can touch the reader on an emotional level. There are also many other poetic devices used by a writer in poetry.
The poem "Easter 1916" is very appealing to the reader's senses. A good example of this is the rhyme scheme of the poem. Yeats uses a simple ABAB rhyme pattern that is easy for a reader to follow. "Hearts with one purpose alone, Through summer and winter seem, Enchanted to a stone, To trouble the living stream." These four lines taken from the piece demonstrate the rhyme pattern. A poem with a complicated rhyme pattern may lose the interest of the reader, thus, the underlying message of the writing may never be realized. The poem is divided into four stanzas. Upon close analyzing of the poem I noticed that the first and third stanzas are sixteen lines and the second and fourth stanzas are twenty-four lines long.