"Easter, 1916"
By William Butler Yeats

Transcription, correction, editorial commentary, and markup by Students and Staff of the University of Virginia
    

Sources

[Dublin] Churchtown and Dundrum : The Cuala Press, 1920Yeats' poem was initially printed in The Dial, and then subsequently published in Michael Robartes and the Dancer (Cuala Press, 1920). Cuala Press was an important private Arts and Crafts press in Ireland, set up by Yeats' sisters, Elizabeth and Susan, and associated with the Irish Literary Revival of the early 20th century. This digital edition uses the first printing in Michael Robartes and the Dancer, available on Google Books (https://www.google.com/books/edition/Michael_Robartes_and_the_Dancer/dWs6AQAAMAAJ). For more information about the Cuala Press, see The Library of Trinity College, Dublin.,

Editorial Statements

Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.

Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.

Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.

Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not.

Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section for more information.


Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "Easter, 1916". Michael Robartes and the Dancer, The Cuala Press, 1920 , pp 9-11 . Literature in Context: An Open Anthology. http://anthology.lib.virginia.edu/work/Yeats/yeats-easter. Accessed: 2024-10-11T00:10:08.031Z
TEST Audio
MICHAEL ROBARTES AND THE
DANCER, BY WILLIAM BUTLER
YEATS.



THE CUALA PRESS
CHURCHTOWN
DUDNRUM
JUNE 1924
9 EASTER, 1916. 1 I have met them at close of day 2 Coming with vivid faces 3 From counter or desk among grey 4 Eighteenth-century houses. 5 I have passed with a nod of the head 6 Or polite meaningless words, 7 Or have lingered awhile and said 9 Polite meaningless words, 9 And thought before I had done 10 Of a mocking tale or a gibe 11 To please a companion 12 Around the fire at the club, 13 Being certain that they and I 14 But lived where motley is worn: 15 All changed, changed utterly: 16 A terrible beauty is born. 17 That woman's days were spent 18 In ignorant good-will, 19 Her nights in argument 20 Until her voice grew shrill. 21 What voice more sweet than hers 22 When, young and beautiful, 23 She rode to harriers? 24 This man had kept a school 25 And rode our winged horse; 26 This other his helper and friend 10 27 Was coming into his force; 28 He might have won fame in the end, 29 So sensitive his nature seemed, 30 So daring and sweet his thought. 31 This other man I had dreamed 32 A drunken, vain-glorious lout. 33 He had done most bitter wrong 34 To some who are near my heart, 35 Yet I number him in the song; 36 He, too, has resigned his part 37 In the casual comedy; 38 He, too, has been changed in his turn, 39 Transformed utterly: 40 A terrible beauty is born. 41Hearts with one purpose alone 42 Through summer and winter seem 43 Enchanted to a stone 44 To trouble the living stream. 45 The horse that comes from the road, 46 The rider, the birds that range 47 From cloud to tumbling cloud, 48 Minute by minute they change; 49 A shadow of cloud on the stream 50 Changes minute by minute; 51 A horse-hoof slides on the brim, 52 And a horse plashes within it; 53 The long-legged moor-hens dive, 54 And hens to moor-cocks call. 11 55 Minute by minute they live: 56 The stone's in the midst of all. 57 Too long a sacrifice 58 Can make a stone of the heart. 59 O when may it suffice? 60 That is heaven's part, our part 61 To murmur name upon name, 62 As a mother names her child 63 When sleep at last has come 64 On limbs that had run wild. 65 What is it but nightfall? 66 No, no, not night but death; 67 Was it needless death after all? 68 For England may keep faith 69 For all that is done and said. 70 We know their dream; enough 71 To know they dreamed and are dead; 72 And what if excess of love 73 Bewildered them till they died? 74 I write it out in a verse— 75 MacDonagh and MacBride 76 And Connolly and Pearse 77 Now and in time to be, 78 Wherever green is worn, 79 Are changed, changed utterly: 80 A terrible beauty is born. September 25th, 1916

Footnotes