Topic > "An Irish Airman Foretells His Death" by William Butler Yeats

In "An Irish Airman Foretells His Death", the poem by William Butler Yeats, focuses on the inner nature of man. It touches many thoughts that must run through the mind as they realize that their death is inevitable. The main idea of ​​this poem is death. In this poem, these thoughts include the airman's supposed destination after leaving Earth, his feelings towards his enemies and supporters and his view of how he spent his life By recounting the aviator's possible final thoughts, the writer shows that there is much more to the war than the political dispute between two opposing forces. and that causes men to question everything they have ever known and believed as a poem but not a sonnet is composed of 16 verses. Say No to Plagiarism Get a custom-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned "? Get an Original Essay At the beginning of the poem, Yeats introduces the reader to the role of the aviator. first he believed the inner thought. The airman has concluded that he is going to die. In the words “I know I will meet my fate / Somewhere in the clouds above,” at the beginning the speaker declares that he will die fighting in the clouds. Airman seems to have accepted this fate (lines 1-2). Airman doesn't talk about fighting it or wishing for it. He knows the reality of the position he finds himself in and has decided to fully accept the inevitable outcome. Although one can imagine the aviator flying his plane into dangerous territory or perhaps imprisoned by the enemy, the writer does not tell the reader what is happening to him. This is consistent with Yeats's style of describing internal versus external events in his poems. Knowing what is happening to the aviator would probably not improve or even affect the poem because Yeats wants the reader to know what is happening inside this man. At the end of the first quatrain the writer talks about Airman's enemies and supporters. In which he makes it clear that he does not hate his enemies, nor does he love his supporters “Those I fight I do not hate / Those I protect I do not love;”. The speaker describes the psychology of a soldier. He is forced to fight and defend his country, but he is not up to any of these tasks. He doesn't want to kill the enemy because he doesn't hate them, and he doesn't want to protect or "guard" his fellow countrymen because he doesn't truly love them. the writer makes the reader think he might be the writer or the aviator is confused because the aviator has no purpose of going to war. At the end of the poem the writer states that the aviator is tired of his life and thinks that his life is useless, in the words of “The years ahead seemed a waste of breath / A waste of breath the years behind”. In other words, he's saying that my life is useless anyway, so why not join the army? This is depressing, but is it serious? Now that we think about it, it's possible that the speaker is being ironic. When he compares his life to death, “In balance with this life, this death.” He comes to the conclusion that perhaps death is better than life. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The writer has written this poem in a way that the reader can assume according to their understanding. The main idea of ​​this poem, on which the entire poem revolves, is death. At the beginning of the poem, it seems that the airman is forced to go to war, but, as the passage passes, the point becomes opposite to the fact that he chose to go without being forced. Yeats's only solution to the question of why Airman got involved in the first place is a “lone”.."