An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
| by William Butler Yeats | |
| Written | 1918 |
|---|---|
| First published in | 1919 |
| Country | Ireland |
| Language | English |
| Meter | Iambic tetrameter |
| Rhyme scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH |
| Publisher | Macmillan |
| Publication date | 1919 |
| Media type | Paperback |
| Lines | 16 |
| OCLC | 48380639 |
| Preceded by | In Memory of Major Robert Gregory |
| Followed by | Men Improve with the Years |
| Read online | at |
"An Irish Airman Foresees His Death" is a poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) written in 1918 and first published in the Macmillan edition of The Wild Swans at Coole in 1919. The poem is a soliloquy given by an aviator in the First World War in which the narrator describes the circumstances surrounding his imminent death. The poem is a work that discusses the role of Irish soldiers fighting for the United Kingdom during a time when they were trying to establish independence for Ireland. Wishing to show restraint from publishing political poems during the height of the war, Yeats withheld publication of the poem until after the conflict had ended.
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 men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.
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.
The poem contains 16 lines of text arranged in iambic tetrameter. The rhyme scheme is arranged in four quatrains of ABAB.
The poem is featured on the Yeats tribute album Now And In 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 Point Depot in Dublin (now known as the O2) on 19 July 2007 and again at The O2 on 21 July 2007, though the poem's title and author went unmentioned. In 2011 the poem was included on the Waterboys album 'An Appointment with Mr Yeats', a collection of Yeats poems set to music by Mike Scott.
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