Irish Airman's Death: Yeats's Dual Purpose

"An Irish Airman Foresees His Death": Yeats's Dual Purpose

In "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death," W.B. Yeats employs the dramatic monologue to achieve a dual purpose. Yeats utilizes the death of an Irish hero, Robert Gregory, to enhance the prestige of Irish nationalism. Gregory was ideally suited for this role. He was a member of the nobility, a true volunteer, a worldly and sophisticated Renaissance man, a war hero (awarded the Military Cross), and an Irish patriot. Regardless of Gregory's actual reasons for fighting in World War I, he served as an ideal vehicle for Yeats's message.

Ironies in Gregory's Death and Potential Influence

Several ironies surround Gregory's death and the potential influence he might have had on both the public and private spheres had he survived. Gregory was mistakenly shot down by an Allied warplane, a fact unknown to Yeats when he wrote the poem. Before enlisting, Gregory was active in Irish politics. Post-war, England dispatched the despised Black and Tans to maintain order in Ireland. Given Gregory's prestige and influence, he might have been able to exert some moderating control over the events that followed the armistice. His death also compelled his financially struggling widow to sell his ancestral home, Coole Park, as she could not manage the estate.

Yeats on the Futility of War and Human Loss

Yeats's second objective is to examine the futility of war and the resulting waste of human life. The airman weighs his past and future, concluding that both are equally pointless. War will have no impact, either on him or on the people for whom it is ostensibly fought. The tragedy is that the airman recognizes this and can disregard the emotional appeals typically used to persuade men to fight. Yeats faced a complex challenge. The traditional language of poetry was inadequate to convey the horrific realities of modern trench warfare. Many poets, such as Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, and Edward Thomas, created a new language and form to address these new challenges. For Yeats, a return to the traditional romantic hero enabled him to express his own poignant protest in a world driven to madness.