12 min listen
Political Poems: 'Easter 1916' by W.B. Yeats
FromClose Readings
ratings:
Length:
34 minutes
Released:
Mar 28, 2024
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Yeats’s great poem about the uprising of Irish republicans against British rule on 24 April 1916 marked a turning point in Ireland’s history and in Yeats's career. Through four stanzas Yeats enacts the transfiguration of the movement’s leaders – executed by the British shortly after the event – from ‘motley’ acquaintances to heroic martyrs, and interrogates his own attitude to nationalist violence. Mark and Seamus discuss Yeats’s reflections on the value of political commitment, his embrace of the role of national bard and the origin of the poem’s most famous line.Sign up to the Close Readings subscription to listen ad free and to all our series in full:Directly in Apple PodcastsIn other podcast appsRead more in the LRB:Terry Eagleton: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v16/n13/terry-eagleton/spookyColm Tóibín:www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v38/n07/colm-toibin/after-i-am-hanged-my-portrait-will-be-interestingFrank Kermode:www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v19/n06/frank-kermode/what-he-didTom Paulin:www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v08/n06/tom-paulin/dreadful-sentiments Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Released:
Mar 28, 2024
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (83)
Modern-ish Poets Series 1: Stevie Smith by Close Readings