Contrary to the optimistic nature of the title “Easter 1916”, Yeats' poem is about death, sacrifice, rebellion and politics. It is not often that Yeats addresses the subject of the Irish independence movement. The only other expressly political poem he wrote was "September 1913", which also dealt with the Irish independence movement. Thus, the current rarity of the poem, written by the almost politically disinclined Yeats, simply calls the reader for in-depth analysis. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay First of all, Yeats uses iambic tetrameter and iambic quarter in the poem. The rhyme scheme of the poem also alternates rhyming lines in an ABAB form. Yeats varies the structure in order to emphasize the importance of the content and meaning of the poem. In stanza 1, Yeats uses a mixture of iambic tetrameter and trimeter rhythm to bring out the subtle discord within the Irish population. The lines "I met them at the end of the day / Coming with lively faces / From the counter or desk among the gray houses of the 18th century" (lines 1-4) are written in regular iambic tetrameter, as is the case for most lines. stanza. However, some lines that Yeats subtly slips in the middle like "Or polite and meaningless words" or "To please a companion" and "All changed, completely changed:" are in trimetric rhythm, breaking the coherence of the stanza and slowing it down. a little, making the reader aware of the underlying discord in the supposed normality and mundane nature of the life that Yeats describes. Perhaps this is Yeats's way of "foreshadowing" the rebellion he speaks of in the next few stanzas, thereby preparing the reader for a turn of events. Secondly, the most important tool Yeats uses in the poem is the change of tone. In the first stanza, the character adopts a dismissive, almost mocking, tone toward those involved in the cause of independence. When the character states, "I passed with a nod/Or polite, meaningless words," it implies that he actually doesn't care much about these people who represent an insignificant part of his life . In stanza 2, his tone becomes almost mocking as he says, "This woman's days were spent / In ignorant good will / Her nights in contention / Until her voice grew shrill." In these lines he describes Countess Constance Georgina Markiewicz, a prominent Irish nationalist whom he seems to loathe and deride as "ignorant" and "shrill". His distance from the cause is evident in the dominant tone of the first two stanzas, but this is likely to change in later stanzas. In the following stanzas, the character's tone changes. This is a fairly obvious shift from disdain and mockery to empathy towards those involved in the independence cause. The poem states: “Was it a pointless death after all? », highlighting the character's change of opinion. He now seems to show empathy towards those who gave their lives for this cause. Additionally, he goes on to talk about the heroes who died during the war – “MacDonagh and MacBride/And Connolly and Pearse” – who were also nationalists who died during the rebellion. Talking about them specifically glorifies them in the eyes of the reader, making them see a definitive change in tone from stanzas one and two. This character now sympathizes with nationalists and may even have become part of the cause of freedom. Third, the refrain used also adds another.