I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.
Notes
The Irish airman in this poem is Major Robert Gregory (1881-1918), only child of Yeats’s friend Lady Augusta Gregory. He was killed on the Italian front. In elegizing him, Yeats focuses on the “lonely impulse of delight” that drove him to enlist in the British Royal Flying Corps and distinguishes his heroic solitude from patriotic duty and other common motivations.
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Thanks!
Thanks for drawing my attention to this poem.
Charley Noble -
From guest Adele (contact)
Poetry was invented for Yeats. He is without a doubt the greatest poet ever. And when others say Shakespeare, or Auden, they're wrong. -
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A beautiful description of Death...
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Yeats' words brought to song
From guest Michael Pritchett (contact)
The London based band "Keane" has a song based on this wonderful poem. They even recite the poem before they sing the song in concert. The song is called "Bad Dream" off of their album "Under the Iron Sea" (2006). The words are below. I encourage you to find the song and listen to it. Simply amazing: Why do I have to fly Over every town up and down the line? I'll die in the clouds above And you that I defend, I do not love I wake up, it's a bad dream No one on my side I was fighting But I just feel too tired To be fighting Guess I'm not the fighting kind Where will I meet my fate? Baby I'm a man, I was born to hate And when will I meet my end? In a better time you could be my friend I wake up, it's a bad dream No one on my side I was fighting But I just feel too tired To be fighting Guess I'm not the fighting kind Wouldn't mind it If you were by my side But you're long gone Yeah you're long gone now Where do we go? I don't even know My strange old face And I'm thinking about those days And I'm thinking about those days I wake up, it's a bad dream No one on my side I was fighting But I just feel too tired To be fighting Guess I'm not the fighting kind Wouldn't mind it If you were by my side But you're long gone Yeah you're long gone now -
Unforgettable
From guest Aedh (contact)
The setting is political, but Yeats' speaker frames politics with his own life, framed yet again in the life of humanity. Each is small within the next. Resonates with Jarrell's "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner". -
An Irishman airman foresees his death
The very first lines-'I know I shall meet my fate
somewhere among the clouds above'shows the poet's inclination for destiny-and thoughts connected with it. This poem deals with the airman's premonition.Also,it shows the detached view of the airman.Last threelines are powerful!
Nuggehalli Pankaja -
If one is aquainted with the history of North Ireland this poem is poignant beyond words...excellent!
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Nothing of honour and glory. Just an exhortation to the inconsequence of his possible passing, as important as a feather falling from the sky. Who would mourn his passing? Only perhaps some chance acquaintance of Kiltartan.
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Wonderfull
From guest Tienne (contact)
I loved this poem, i never thought it could be so simple to do so..wait, its not. Good job William, im researching all of your work. -
A quick Background
This poem was written after the death of Major RObert Gregory, the son of Yeat's close friend Lady Gregory.
He was accidentally shot down by allied Italian forces wile flying in the British RAF.
The lines "those I guard I do not love
those I fight I do not hate"
reflect the irony of an Irishman dying for oppressors England. It was but a "lonely impulse of delight", a rush of blood that drove him to this faith. -
Beautiful
"Those that I fight I do not hate
Those that I guard I do not love"
this poem is a beautiful thought from the point of view of a solder -
From guest Nicholas Meo (contact)
I believe that major gregory had a pesimistic view on life. he had very clear goals and was obviously not prone to be persuaded. the line " a waste of breath the years behind" relates to a pesimistic view. So obviously major gregory was crazy and an adrehnaline junkey who did not deserve a poem written about him. So we can now see that the other lines such as "nor public meen nor cheering crowds' related to yeats own personal opinion. we now see that this poem is contrasting yeats opinions along with major gregory's opinion. Yeats obviously wanted to get his opinions across about the neutrality of war. This is what this poem was intended for -
AP test practice,
In Yeats' poem, "An Irish Airman foresees his Death", the speaker sees the realities of war, as well as life. The tone is sad and distant, the airman sees the horrors of war like a falcon, far way. Though the speaker is very aware of his life being in danger, it doesn't seem to affect him. Through his repetition and aliteration of images Yeats establishes a tone of resignation.
The Irish have been under the dominion of the English for many years, this kind of sad acceptance is expressed in the poem. The Irishman is resigned to his fate. Any possible outcome of a war he has no purpose fighting won't affect him or his people. He says,
"My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before"
He empahasizes the futileness by using aliteration beteween likely and leave, and the short o sound. The tone nearing the end of the poem, he is almost asking himself why. Why has he joined a in the fight for cause so futile to him?
"The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death."
The year's to come and the years behind, the poet's future and past, are reduced to "a waste of breath" There is a sense of disgust at life in general. The words have a connotation of something brief and purposeless. He sees motives from far above; the cheering crowds and duty other people would die for are far below him. The imagry of the poem:
"A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds"
The first line is a paradox, the connotations of the words lonely and delight are opposites. But the speaker who is so unhappy would find delight in the danger of an airfight, away from the people he probably doesn't relate to. Knowing it is likely his life could end any moment, he accepts his fate and welcomes it.
"In balance with this life, this death."
He finds his death will be as his life was; he will die for a cause as distant from him as his purpose for living was.
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An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
From guest Dr. Barvado (contact)
W.B Yeats has made a wonderful job of his best poem. I fail to see how others could dislike it! the war was a hard time fo us all and Yeats captures this perfectly
the poemin generally gives a wonderfull description of how life was notworth living nd how he predicts his death"somewhere among the clouds above"
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the words ... 'lonely' impulse of delight... captures him as a person with neglible enthusiasm and passion for life...
and the poem in general... captures his attitude of indifference and dettachment...
as pessimism overules... he says he would die in the war...
'tumult in the clouds' ...refers to the war
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This simple poem is one of Yeats's most explicit statements about the First World War, and illustrates both his active political consciousness ("Those I fight I do not hate, / Those I guard I do not love") and his increasing propensity for a kind of hard-edged mystical rapture (the airman was driven to the clouds by "A lonely impulse of delight"). The poem, which, like flying, emphasizes balance, essentially enacts a kind of accounting, whereby the airman lists every factor weighing upon his situation and his vision of death, and rejects every possible factor he believes to be false: he does not hate or love his enemies or his allies, his country will neither be benefited nor hurt by any outcome of the war, he does not fight for political or moral motives but because of his "impulse of delight"; his past life seems a waste, his future life seems that it would be a waste, and his death will balance his life. Complementing this kind of tragic arithmetic is the neatly balanced structure of the poem, with its cycles of alternating rhymes and its clipped, stoical meter.
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I do believe I've read this before in some English class no doubt... it seems awfully familiar!
The acceptance of ill fate is sad, but it's interesting to think people can indeed fortell the future if they want. -
I studied this poem in my lit class and I adore it. I admire the sense of nonchalance that is given off by the airman, he sees what is going on around him, knows that it can't get any better or worse.
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At a time when the gyre has spun into another empire drowning in the desert, this poem has especial meaning now for our brothers and sisters engaged in a rough beast’s war. The airman’s attitude in combat neither hating the enemy nor loving his masters is one borne by many a soul caught up in conflicts of vague purpose and even vaguer ending.
My last play to be produced was about the tragedy of the USS Shenandoah, a prophecy of the death of the age of dirigibles. This poem sat on my desk in a framed copy as I wrote.
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