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ISSN : 1226-4946(Print)
ISSN : 2288-5412(Online)
The Yeats Journal of Korea Vol.33 pp.47-68
DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.14354/yjk.2010.33.47

“Easter 1916”: A Yeatsian Mode of Group Elegy

Kim Jae-bong

Abstract

Somewhat comically-described everyday lives before the Rising have no directconnection with the event itself. Behind the images from superficial meetings withsham courtesy of characters follow violent associations of death implying diverselayers of change in the realms of history, politics, Irishness and individual lives.Yeats enumerates personal characteristics of revolutionary leaders in order to hintthese characteristics alone can’t transfigure historical realities. He shows us thatthose acquaintances whom he occasionally came across before the uprising are notdirectly related to the heroic act. On the other hand, he also reveals that theunderlying causes of the upheaval are the very simple everyday relationship.
Above all, “Easter 1916” solves well the problem how a piece of poemacquires an impartial public voice out of secular opinions. This work is notembellished with symbolic abstruseness and therefore can be paraphrased into acomparatively easy prose writing. However, even its format change, if at all, doesn'tquell its life force. The poet effectively evades a direct interpretation of the Risingthat can help change the fate of the nation and so, he reconstructs the symbolicsignificance and context of the event into a literary masterpiece. In its form, the useof refrain emphasizing change shows directness and simplicity to conclude the verse.Moreover, Yeats frankly confesses that he was wrong in judging the victims’ heroiccapability in the political aspect, but he doesn't make them appear pathetic poeticpersonae.
The poem extols the heroic acts of the dead in the compressed verse and at thesame time reproaches their decision to cast away their own precious lives. Therefrain implies changes in the world caused by the Rising, political shifts in theinternational relationship closely linked with independence and colonial management, and the severance of lives of people with whom the poet meet routinely everyday.That is to say, it refers to the mythological transformation of the leaders beforeIrish people’s eyes as well as to the historical fact that British authority made theminto corpses. ‘Change’ in the refrain evokes not only the tragic death of leaders inthe uprising but the significance obtained through their death as well. In thiscontext, a completeness of change out of the glorious sacrifice is also inferred.Thus, ‘change’ indicates the tragic stasis the leaders gained through the victimizationof their own lives and reveals a poetic movement from this world to eternity. Thepoem sublimates the leaders as national icons permanently nesting in the bosom oftheir compatriots even though they lost their worldly lives. In this way, Yeatselegizes the victims by blending all the matters of history, politics and the nationtogether into a commemorative poem. This stream of thoughts triggered by thenational tragedy creates a pivotal group elegy connoting deep insight into theuniversal death.

집단추모의 한 양식: 예이츠의 「1916년 부활절」

김재봉
동아대

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