Yeats revision notes OCR

Yeats poems

September 1913

Refrain: "Romantic Ireland's dead and gone / It's with O'Leary in the grave."
The refrain reminds us of the tragic death of "O'Leary" and without him all is lost, "dead and
gone". He is also mocking him, as he has thrown his life away as if…

The poem was written in 1886 and is based on the legend of faeries taking children away
and replacing them.
The plot of the poem is a metaphor for the return to innocence, which is characterised by
childhood.
Nature is used as a representation of freedom and escape: "flapping herons."…

Constance Markiewicz was an Irish National Revolutionary, and became the first female
elected to the British House of Commons. She was the first woman to be sentenced to death
but her sentence was changed to imprisonment.
Petrachan sonnet except it is stretched.
Juxtaposition: "But a raving autumn shears / Blossom…

"How can we know the dancer from the dance?" We're all part of one greater whole,
everyone can dance but not everyone is a dancer but you can't have one without the other.
The ending is ambiguous.

The Cold Heaven

The poem was inspired by strange sky patterns; it is…

The use of enjambment allows the poem to follow and continue illustrating the escapism and
flow of the water below. It also brings a sense of longing for something more than just "this
wise and simple man".
Juxtaposition of what we long for and what really happens: "What I had…

The Man presents death as something welcoming and comforting through the use of the
word "dream". However, the Echo crushes this idea through its repetition, making death
seem more sudden and eerie as opposed to peaceful and welcoming.
The use of alliteration gives a sense of coming to an end:…

Desperation: "But in the grave all, all shall be renewed."

The Cat and the Moon

The poem was published in 1919 and can be interpreted to be a representation of Yeats'
relationship with Maude Gonne.
Yeats is the `Cat' but the `Cat' is based upon "Black Minnaloushe" who was Maude…