Analysis_Of_“An_Irish_Airman_Foresees_His_Death“

Analysis Of “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death“ The idea of war brings to mind a noble cause, or a love of country. This is not so in the poem “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death.” William Butler Yeats uses the speaker of this poem to convey the theme: even in the face of death, joy can be found. The pilot does not hate those that he fights against. Ireland did not have many direct enemies, except for those that kept them from living free. But, being under British rule and fighting for them, especially for a cause that made no sense to the pilot, did not evoke many feelings of love either. When the speaker states of his country that “No likely end will bring them loss Or leave them happier than before,” he knows that Kiltartan Cross and therefore he, will not be affected by the outcome of the war. Kiltartan’s people have nothing left to lose and therefore cannot be brought loss. This shows that the pilot knows that he is fighting for a cause in which he has no stake in. The speaker is characterized with bravery, courage, and humility in saying that “Nor law, pilot, life, death, cause, nor, fight, speaker, love, country, years, waste, war, wanted, therefore, sense, point, poem, nothing, loss, knows, important, flying, fly, fighting, except, duty, breath, young, yeats, william, unlike, understanding, understand, under, through