An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death is a poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats. It chronicles the final thoughts of a First World War aviator.

ummary

The aviator, of whom Yeats writes as in the first person, is convinced that the flight he is about to take will be his last, and he thinks of why he has chosen to fly. He flies for different reasons than most, not out of sense of duty or patriotism, nor for prestige or for those he has left behind. He reasons that he made his decision on the basis that his life so far has been wasted, and can see nothing to convince him that his life to come will be any better, and thus that it is better to enjoy the present, whatever the consequence.

Background and interpretation

The airman in the poem is widely believed to be Major Robert Gregory, a friend of Yeats and the only child of Lady Augusta Gregory, Yeats' patron and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre. The collection "The Wild Swans at Coole", in which this poem appeared also contained the poem "In Memory of Major Robert Gregory". In total, Yeats wrote four pieces based on Major Gregory's death. [Vendler, Helen (2007). "Our Secret Discipline." The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, pg 6. ISBN: 0-674-02695-0]

Yeats uses this poem to portray both emotional and intellectual aspects of the aviator's choice to fly. [Vendler, pg 9] The repetition of the word "clouds" on the second and twelfth lines of the stanza bookend the aviator's resolve; he was driven by a "lonely impulse of delight." Yeats continues the poem until it has a "perfect" number of lines. [Vendler, pg 6] In the last four lines, Yeats uses a chiasmus of ABCCBA (balanced:years to come::waste of breath ... waste of breath::years behind:balanced). This implies that the aviator's choice was based on intellectual as well as emotional reasons. [Vendler, pg 8]

Allusions

The poem is featured on the Yeats tribute album "Now And In A Time To Be", where it is sung by Shane MacGowan of the rock group The Pogues. The British rock group Keane based their song "A Bad Dream" (featured on the album "Under the Iron Sea") on it, and a recording of the poem, read by Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, is played before the song at live venues, explaining their reasons for the lyrics. Hannon appeared in person to read it at the Keane gig at The O₂ on 21 July 2007, though the poem's title and author went unmentioned.

In the movie Memphis Belle, the character Sgt. Danny Daly recites the poem, omitting the lines referring to Ireland.

References