熊本大学学術リポジトリ. Kumamoto University Repositor

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1 熊本大学学術リポジトリ Kumamoto Unversty Repostor Ttle W. B. Yeats' s Psychologcal Atttu Easter Rsng: "Easter, 96" from Perspectve Author(s) Ito, Yuk CtatonInternatonal Journal of Socal and Studes, : Issue date Type URL Departmental Bulletn Paper Rght

2 W. B. Yeats' s Psychologcal Atttudes toward the Easter Rsng: "Easter, 96" from the Perspectves of Text World Theory and Modalty Ytk Ito. Introducton. Durng the Easter Week of 96, the radcal members of the Irsh Republcan Brotherhood (IRB) rose n an armed uprsng, whch was suppressed by the Brtsh Army, and ts man leaders were executed. The suppresson and executons spurred Irsh natonalsm, and the Irsh ndependent movement became volent, untl the IRB transformed nto the Irsh Republcan Army (the Orgnal IRA) n 99. In the same year, the steep escalaton of the poltcal tensons between the Unted Kngdom and Ireland brought about the Irsh War of Independence. The Easter Rsng was a crucal turnng pont n the hstory of Ireland, and nterestngly, ts man leaders were close frends or acquantances of the poet W. B. Yeats, who had prevously been a member of the IRB(c , dscussed n Ellmann, 978, p. Ill; Foster, 997, pp.2-3). On the occason of the Easter Rsng, Yeats wrote hs masterpece, "Easter, 96." Many scholars have commented on ts ambguty, as can be seen n the followng quotatons: " Easter 96' cerebrates the romantc energy of revoluton, but does so ambguously (Allson, 2006, p. 92); "Easter 96 combnes confdently affrmatve statement [about the uprsng] wth a candd confesson of panfully unresolved ambgutes" (Eagleton, 97, p. 248); and, "' Easter, 96' s the closest Yeats comes to transcendence through socal or revolutonary volence, yet, ts treatment s ambguous" (Holdrdge, 2000, p. 39). In examnng crtcal responses, although there are dfferences n stance (and dfferences n the versons of the poem' s ttle), a majorty of Yeats scholars are n agreement on a central pont: "Easter, 96" possesses ambguty. What s the nature of ths reported ambguty n "Easter, 96"? As ambguty n the poem can be sad to reflect Yeats' s ambvalent feelngs concernng ths crucal occason, t thus contans a key to Yeats' s psychologcal selfconflct at ths catalytc tme n Irsh hstory. The am of ths present study s to analyze Yeats' s language n the poem, focusng on hs ambguous descrpton of the leaders of the uprsng, partcularly the man leader of 35

3 36 the uprsng, rval poet Patrck Pearse (879-96). Ths study also attempts to reveal Yeats' s psychologcal stance toward the leaders, through an analyss of the poem's language features. In dong so, t s hoped that new nformaton, found through the textual approach of text world theory and modalty, wll reveal nterpretve connectons heretofore lackng n Yeatsan academc crtcsm. 2. The earler studes on the poem "Easter, 96." The crtcs quoted above (Allson, 2006; Eagleton, 97; and Holdrdge 2000) ascrbe the reason for the poem' s ambguty to Yeats' s ambvalent feelngs toward the Easter Rsng. They have closely examned the poetc text, but the man focus of analyss concerns the oxymoronc qualty of the refran n the poem, wth crtcs especally focusng on the celebrated last lne, "a terrble beauty s bom." An addtonal pont s that when the crtcs have referred to the leaders of the uprsng, they have manly focused on the man who s wrtten as "a drunken, vanglorous lout" ( "Easter, 96" lne 32), John MacBrde (88-96). He was the husband of Yeats' s beloved Maud Gonne ( ), and abused both her and her daughter Iseult Gonne ( ). Indeed, he s mportant because MacBrde, so hated by Yeats, became a natonal hero due to the uprsng (McCready, 997, p. 233). Crtcs however seem to overlook another sgnfcant fgure, Patrck Pearse, who was the Commandant-General of the uprsng, and the presdent of the provsonal government - n short, the leadng head of the uprsng' s leaders and the person most drectly responsble for the hstorcal event. Importantly, he was also a rval poet of Yeats. So, the hstorcal event of the Easter Uprsng was undertaken under the gudng hand of a poet. Manly due to ths event, Pearse' s works were later lsted n the canon of Irsh lterature ths occurred almost mmedately after hs executon (Edwards, 977, pp ). It seems relevant to nqure about Yeats' s feelngs toward Pearse. An analyss of Yeats' s ambguous language used n hs descrpton of Pearse n the poem may prove sgnfcant for two areas of nvestgaton: one s the dscovery of Yeats' s authoral ntenton, whch ncludes hs personal psychology and valuaton of both Pearse and the event, and the other concerns Pearse' s poltcal stance toward the event, as he was the one most drectly responsble for t. In fact, the celebrated crtcs lsted above do not dscuss ths pont. R. F. Foster (2003) dscusses the poem, quotng Yeats' s letters and the poem' s early manuscrpts, but he concludes that the poem s merely an "elegac love-lyrc to [Maud] Gonne" (p. 59). Hs

4 W. B. Ycats's Psychologcal Atttudes toward the Easter Rsng 37 nterpretaton s unque, but hs concluson follows manly from a bographcal approach, rather than a text-based study. It can be sad that the manstay crtcal stance of earler studes on ths poem has focused on the background context rather than the language of the text. Eagleton (97) wrtes, "The ambgutes belong to the hstorcal experence...rather than to the language whch records t" (p. 248). Concernng the pont that the poem' s ambguty arses from Yeats' s ambvalent atttude toward the hstorcal event, I am n agreement wth Eagleton. However, I dsagree wth Eagleton' s opnon that the language of the poem does not reveal ambguty. Ths essay wll argue the opposte: the language of the poem (and not just the celebrated refran) strongly reflects the narrator' s mental atttude, whch n turn reflects Yeats' s psychology, as expressed partcularly n ambvalence. 3. Modalty as a "psychologcal pont of vew." When Yeats refers to the leaders n the poem, hs language utlzes complex grammatcal structures mbued wth "modalty," whch wll next be dscussed. "Modalty" s ndcatve of those language markers whch reveal the mental atttude (psychologcal atttude) of a speaker or wrter toward partcular subjects, and s manly represented by the modal auxlary verbs ( "must," "may," "can," "wll," "shall," "mght," "could, "would" "should," etc.); the epstemc verbs ( "thnk," "seem," "beleve," "hope," "wsh," etc.); adverbs and adjectves concernng degrees of possblty ( "certan," "possble," "sure," "probably," "maybe," "perhaps," "allegedly,"" doubtfully," etc.); and atttudnal syntax (nterrogatve, mperatve, subjunctve, ndrect speech, and ndrect thought, etc.). The functonal-cogntve lterary lngust Paul Smpson (993; 2004) states that modalty s deeply related to the nterpersonal functon of language, and further, that analyzng modalty s an effectve way to reveal the "psychologcal pont of vew" (2004, p. 23) of a speaker or wrter. Smpson (2004) contnues: The nterpersonal functon, as the term tself suggests, s about how we orentate, shape and measure our utterance as dscourse. Ths functon s expressed prncpally by the grammatcal system of modalty whch s that part of language whch allows us to attach expressons of belef, atttude, and oblgaton to what we say and wrte. Modalty s therefore the grammar of explct comment, and t ncludes sgnals of the varyng degrees of certanty we have about the propostons we express, and of the

5 38 sort of commtment or oblgaton that we attach to our utterance. (p. 23) Indeed, n the eghty lnes of "Easter, 96" Yeats used 4 expressons wth modalty; thus, quanttatvely, nearly 20% of the poem drectly presents the wrter' s psychology va modalty, and n partcular Yeats' s mental atttudes toward the leaders of the nsurrecton. 4. Introducton to text world theory. In ths essay, Yeats' s psychologcal atttudes toward the leaders of the uprsng wll also be examned utlzng text world theory (Werth, 999; Hdalgo-Downng, 2000; Gavns, 2005; Gavns; 2007), whch has developed out of the felds of dscourse analyss and functonal-cogntve lngustcs. In text world theory, the readng of a text s regarded as a dscourse between an author and a reader; n other words, t s regarded as a communcaton. Phrase by phrase, an author gves nformaton to a reader usng the vehcle of the words of the text, and the reader creates a text world as conceptual space or mental space n hs/her mnd. Text world theory emphaszes modalty. In fact, ts leadng scholar, Joanna Gavns (2005; 2007) adapts Smpson' s theory of modalty, and enrches hs theoretcal nsghts. As wth Smpson, Gavns (2007) defnes modalty n the followng way: "Modalty s the term gven to those aspects of language whch express a speaker' s or wrter' s atttude to a partcular subject"(p. 9). Modalty n text world theory wll be dscussed n more detal n Sectons 5 and How to make a text-world: The frst four lnes of "Easter, 96." To gve an example of the creaton of a text world, magne readng a prvate letter from a frend, the wrter of the letter (the author of the text) gves nformaton to you the reader bt by bt, that s, phrase by phrase. In ths process, the verb tense and aspect, adverbs and adverbal phrases concernng tme, wll defne temporalty n the text world. Nouns, adverbs, and adverbal phrases concern locatons, and hence defne"place" n the text world. As well, nouns and noun phrases, ncludng proper nouns, and pronouns, become enactors (characters) wthn the text world. These elements, whch defne the backdrop of a text-world, are known as "world-buldng elements" or "world-bulders" (WB). By controllng the order of the words (phrases, and so on) n skllful and elaborate ways, an author of a text tres to convey hs or her own feelngs to your (the reader' s) mnd or nternalzed mental space.

6 W. B. Yeats's Psychologcal Alttudes toward the Easter Rsng 39 There s a further development of ths process, whch nvolves an advancng of the text world. Those words and phrases whch develop the text world, aganst the backdrop made by WB, are called "functonadvancng propostons" or "functon-advancers" (FA). Accordng to these propostons, whch are gven by the text n seral order, a reader contnually develops the characters, acton, settng of events, etc., and thus develops the text-world. In a short form lterature (.e., most modern poetry), a large majorty of the words and phrases n the text can be analyzed as FA. Therefore, most words and phrases act as FA as well as WB. Next, the frst four lnes of "Easter, 96" wll be examned n order to present an example of text world theory n applcaton: Easter, 96. I have met them at close of day 2. Conng wth vvd faces 3. From counter or desk among grey 4. Eghteenth-century houses, (lne numbers added] In these lnes, the verbs n the present perfect tense of "have met," are appled by the wrter, and act as WB by defnng the tme of the text world (e.g.. the phrase "at close of day" s tme-defntonal). The characters or enactors n ths text world are the narrator "I," who may be Yeats as author n the text, and they ("them" n lne ). Accordng to these WB, readers can create the text world as a mental space. Please see Fgure. below: TEXT WORLD: Stanza I. WB Tme: present perfect, at close of day, near the Easter Rsng) Locaton: among grey eghteenth-century houses (Metonymy = Dubln) Enactors: I, they = the leaders of the Raster Rsng) FA have met them * comng * at close of day wth vvd faces * from counter or desk * among grey eghteenth-century houses Fgure.. The text world da»ram of "Easter, 96," lnes -4.

7 40 Fgure. presents an analyss of how the author narrates and how the reader follows the narraton, thereby creatng the text-world. A horzontal arrow shows the followng relatonshps: ) an x s y relatonshp; 2) an x has v relatonshp; and 3) an x s on/at/wth/ y relatonshp (Gavns 2007, p. 43). Other relatonshps, whch are manly cause and effect, ncludng abstract actons and events, are represented by vertcal arrows. By applyng ths type of analyss, the order of the constructon and development of the text-world as mage-story can be traced. It can also be observed that a text-world whch s full of horzontal arrows wll be relatvely statc, whle a text-world whch s full of vertcal arrows wll be dynamc. Fgure. shows that the world whch s created by the poem' s openng lnes s rather statc. In fact, ths s a descrpton gven just pror to the acton of nsurrecton. Here, some readers may have the followng queston: How can t be possble to dentfy "them" wth the leaders of the uprsng, and "grey eghteenth-century houses" wth Dubln? In order to comprehend the metonymc representaton of Dubln as "grey eghteenth-century houses," and the context-dependent representaton of the leaders of the uprsng as "them," a mutual sharng of knowledge s requred. As well, n order to accept these expressons as text world WB (to construct the outlne of the text-world n the reader' s mnd), a certan amount of self nvolvement of the reader s necessary to create the world. Texts such as "Easter, 96," a text whch requres the self-nvolvement of readers, can be treated as a non-autonomous text: that s, a text whch does not ntrnscally carry nternal coheson. 6. The frst stanza of "Easter, 96." Now, the rest of the frst stanza of "Easter, 96" wll be examned, utlzng text world theory: 5. I have passed wth a nod of the head 6. Or polte meanngless words, 7. Or have lngered awhle and sad 8. Polte meanngless words, FA I have passed -* wth nod of the head -* or polte meanngless words or (I)

8 W. B. Yeats's Psychologcal Atttudes toward the Easter Rsng 4 have lngered awhle and sad polte meanngless words Fgure.2. The text world dagram of "Easter, 96," lnes 5-8. Smlar to the former secton (Fgure.), Fgure.2 also has many horzontal arrows, whch reflect the statc qualty of the text world. Even so, the amount of the vertcal arrows gradually ncreases as the text advances. Ths fact shows that the text world s gradually shftng from statc to actve. 9. And thought before I had done 0. Of a mockng tale or a gbe. To please a companon 2. Around the fre at the club, 3. Beng certan that they and I 4. But lved where motley s worn: 5. All changed, changed utterly: 6. A terrble beauty s born. In the nnth lne, the past tense of the epstemc modal verb "thnk" ( "thought" ) appears. As has already been dscussed, modalty s a language marker whch reveals a speaker' s vewpont towards the topc n the dscourse. In a grammatcal sense, the epstemc modal word "thnk" forms an ndrect thought, and expresses the subject' s feelngs. The syntactc feature as ndrect thought and the epstemc modal verb "thnk" are those language markers whch show that the clause s not the descrpton of the scene but s rather the descrpton of the mental atttude of the narrator/speaker, as modalty. Therefore, from the perspectve of text world theory, the epstemc modal word can create another text world as an embedded mental world. Adaptng the theory of Smpson (993), Gavns (2005) descrbes such an embedded mental world as a "modal world," because modalty creates an embedded text world (p. 87). In fact, all usages of modalty create modal worlds. In lne 3, "certan" s an adjectve whch reflects the narrator/speaker' s judgment of degrees of possblty, and t creates another embedded modal world. In my dagrams, the modal words are shown n bold font. See Fgure.3:

9 42 WB: I, all, a terrble beauty FA And nought MODAL WORLD (Indrect Thought) before I had done of a mockng tale or a gbe -* to please a companon MODAL WORLD (Epstemc) beng certan -* that they and but lved where motley -* s worn -* around the fre at the club all changed, changed utterly a terrble beauty s born Fgure.3. The text world dagram of "Easter, 96," lnes 9-6. The text world shown n Fgure.3 reveals that the endng of the frst stanza s actve, as t has many vertcal arrows n the dagram. Furthermore, ths dagram shows that the text world contans two modal worlds, one embedded wthn the other. In the modal worlds of ths stanza, the followng dea s narrated: Yeats wrtes as narrator that he "thought before I Yeats) had done / of a mockng tale or a gbe/ to please a companon / around the fre at the club" (lnes 9-2). Yeats had shared the same daly lfe wth the leaders of the Easter Rsng, and hs daly lfe wth them was as f on a comedc stag "where motley s worn" (lne 4). He says that t s"certan that they and I / but lved where motley s worn" (lnes 3-4, emphass mne). Here, the structure of the embedded modal

10 W. B. Ycats's Psychologcal Atttudes toward the Easter Rsng 43 worlds reveals a slght but sgnfcant paradox. The frst modal world s created at the word "thought," whch expresses the narrator' s subjectve judgment. Therefore, ths descrpton reflects an nternal rather than external-world realty, as the narrator ndcates a personal contemplaton pror to an acton (to please a companon) whch never occurred (Yeats seems to wsh he had done so). On the other hand, the second and nner modal world of"certan"expresses the narrator' s judgment that the degree of possblty s hgh because he assures the certanty of t. Ths s a paradoxcal combnaton of modalty. Smpson (993) calls ths complex usage of modaltes a "non-harmonc modal combnaton"(pp. 5-6). As prevously quoted, Gavns (2007) states, "Modalty s the term gven to those aspects of language whch express a speaker' s or wrter' s atttude to a partcular subject"(p.9l).thus the"non-harmonc modal combnaton" of ths poem well reflects Yeats' s (the wrter' s) ambvalent "atttude to a partcular subject," n ths case the Easter Rsng. 6. Yeats' s response just after the uprsng. A letter Yeats wrote to Lady Gregory on May, 96 reveals hs ambvalence. The letter was wrtten durng a seres executon of the leaders of the Easter Rsng (May 3-2). In the letter, Yeats referred to the uprsng a "the Dubln tragedy" and wrote, "I am tryng to wrte a poem on the men who were executed- 'terrble beauty has been born agan.' " Moreover, he quoted the phrase of the revolutonary woman whom Yeats loved, Maud Gonne: "tragc dgnty has returned to Ireland" (Yeats, 954, pp. 63-4). These statements show that Yeats regarded the uprsng as possessng sgnfcant aesthetc qualtes. On the other hand, n ths same letter he wrote a negatve assessment of the Easter Rsng: "I am despondent about the future, At the moment I feel that all the works of years has been overturned, all the brngng together the classes, all the feelng of Irsh lterature and crtcsm from poltcs" (p. 63). So n these passages, Yeats had a feelng of awe and regarded the uprsng as a varety of tragc art, but also felt anger that the uprsng "overturned" the peaceful process of the Irsh Lterary Revval Movement brought about by Yeats and hs frends. In order to slate that the Easter Rsng s "the Dubln tragedy," and because of ths,"tragc dgnty has returned to Ireland,"Yeats descrbes the uprsng as a change; especally, a change from common daly lfe to tragc beauty,"a terrble beauty."in fact, "change"s sgnfcant n Yeats' s phlosophy of tragedy. In hs dary of 909, he wrote, "The soul knows ts change of state alone, and thnk the motves of tragedy are not related to

11 44 acton but to change of state"(yeats. 999, p. 348). In Yeats' s phlosophy of tragedy, "the terrble beauty"s born not from the "acton" as the battle but from the "change of the state"of Dubln. It s "the Dubln tragedy." 7. The second stanza of "Easter, 96" : Yeats and the four leaders. In ths stanza, the four man leaders of the uprsng appear, and ther fgures are descrbed from the vewpont of the speaker (Yeats). Below, the stanza has been dvded nto four parts n order to examne t n detal. The stanza begns wth the descrpton of a female revolutonary and leader of the workers' movement, Constance Markevcz ( ). She was born n Slgo, the north-west seasde area of Ireland where Yeats spent hs chldhood; she and Yeats had a close relatonshp from chldhood on. 7. That woman's days were spent 8. In gnorant good-wll, 9. Her nghts n argument 20. Untl her voce grew shrll. 2. What voce more sweet than hers 22. When, young and beautful, 23. She rode to harrers? The text world dagram of ths part s below: TEXT WORLD: Stanza II WB Tme: past smple Enactors:I,"that woman "(Constance Markevcz)' s days, her nghts, her voce FA That woman's days were spent -* n gnorant good-wll her nghts * n argument _> untl her voce grew shrll MODAL WORLD (Interrogatve) what voce -* more sweet than hers -* when she * young and beautful rode -* to harrers? Fgure 2.. The text world dagram of "Easter, 96," lnes 7-23.

12 W. B. Yeats's Psychologcal Atttudes toward the Easter Rsng 45 The verbs here are manly n past smple tense, and place s not defned. In the lnes 2-23, the nterrogatve sentence (as rhetorcal queston) makes a modal world. The nterrogatve s a rhetorcal queston, but at the same tme, also acts as a queston toward the reader, and the poet hmself. In the nterrogatve modal world, Yeats recalls Constance Markevcz' s youth. In the rhetorcal queston, Markevcz' s "sweet" voce was the best and her "young and beautful" fgure was vvd. Her past s depcted n the modal as a pont of contrast to her (recently) "shrll" voce. Yeats laments that her "sweet" qualty was lost durng the course of her engagement n poltcal actvty. The followng lnes present a descrpton of the leader of the nsurrecton, Patrck Pearse, the revolutonary poet and schoolmaster, who rected the Proclamaton of the Irsh Republc as the presdent of the provsonal government. 24. Ths man had kept a school 25. And rode our wnged horse; The narrator descrbes the most mportant fgure of ths event only n two lnes. The expresson "rode our wnged horse" s merely a conventonal phrase used to mply that the person was a poet. Ths phrase docs not possess any modalty or complex expressons: WB Enactor: ths man (Patrck Pearse) FA ths man * and rode our wumed horse [= had kept beng, poet) a school Fgure 2.2. The text world dagram of "Easter, 96," lnes Ths descrpton seems much too concse a depcton for the leader of the leaders of the nsurrecton. In A Wllam Butler Yeats Encyclopeda (997), McCready wrtes that Yeats "admred the rebels, especally Pearse" because of hs acton as the top leader of the Easter Rsng (p. 305). However, there s no language here whch would convey any detaled evaluaton of the mportant fgure. Ths part of the poem presents counterevdence to McCready's (997) perspectve, as there s no narrator's

13 4(5 voce whch mght offer any judgment of the top leader, as n these two lnes Yeats does not descrbe Pearse wth modalty. After the concse descrpton of Pearse, a rch descrpton of Pearse' s "helper and frend" s next presented, of the poet and unversty lecturer Thomas MacDonagh (878-96). The poem contnues: 26. Ths other hs helper and frend 27. Was comng nto hs force; 28. He mght have won fame n the end, 29. So senstve hs nature seemed, 30. So darng and sweet hs thought. As the lne says, MacDonagh was Pearse' s "helper," and n the nsurrecton he acted under Pearse' s command. It can be seen that Yeats descrbes hm n much greater detal than Pearse; Yeats here laments the loss of MacDonagh' s future possblty of success. Lnes present narratve language possessng an embedded modal expresson. The text world dagram of ths segment s shown below: WB Enactor: "ths other hs helper and frend" (Thomas MacDonagh), hs nature, hs thought FA ths other hs helper and frend -* was comng nto hs force MODAL WORLD (Hypothess) He mght have won fame * n the end MODAL WORLD (Epstemc) hs nature seemed * hs thought [seemed * so senstve so darng and sweet Fgure 2.3. The text world dagram of "Easter, 96," lnes In comparng ths text world (shown n Fgure 2.3) for MacDonagh wth that of Pearse, ths segment contans one modal world embedded wthn another. The combnaton of modal worlds here s not a "non-harmonc modal combnaton," as the hypothetcal modal world of "mght" and the epstemc modal world of"seem"both show that the narrator's atttude s to avod uncondtonal asserton. Asserton tends to defne an object's

14 W. B. Yeats's Psychologcal Atttudes toward the Easter Rsng 47 state, n other words, tends to lmt ts meanng. Due to the embedded doublng of modal worlds n the segment, the depcton of MacDonagh lacks clarty. However, such ambguty here also leaves room for possblty. The narrator' s decson to avod uncondtonal asserton has the beneft of ndcatng condtonalty, as the narrator' s hope or wsh. Accordng to Yeats, the reason why MacDonagh "mght have won fame" s that "hs nature" and "hs thought" seem to be "so senstve," "so darng and sweet." Yeats attrbutes the success of ths poet to these aspects of personalty. In ths sense, MacDonagh and Pearse were oppostes. Edwards (977) states, "Some of hs (Pearse' s companons n the nsurrecton, lke MacDonagh. were free-thnkers" (p. 262). On the other hand, Pearse was known as an extreme hawksh natonalst. As ths poem ndcates, Pearse "kept a school,"named St. Enda' s School, n order to teach Irsh culture va the Irsh language to chldren. In the foundaton document of hs school, Pearse created a document descrbng the school' s am n a more drect way: "t wll be attempted to nculcate n them the desre to spend ther lves workng hard and zealously for ther fatherland and, f t should ever be necessary, to de for t" (qtd. Edwards, 977, p.i 6). Pearse repeatedly recommended that not only the chldren of Ireland, but also every Irsh ctzen de n a battle as a blood sacrfce to redeem the "tragc dgnty" of Ireland. He wrote the followng n a 93 artcle: I should lke to see any and every body of Irsh ctzens armed. We must accustom ourselves to the thought of arms, to the sght of the arms, to the use of arms.... bloodshed s a cleansng and a sanctfy thng.... There are many thngs more horrble than bloodshed; and a slavery s one of them. (qtd. Edwards, 977, p. 79) In the next year, he also wrote: "The whole movement, the whole country, has been rebaptzed by bloodshed for Ireland" (qtd. Edwards, 977, p. 27). Pearse fought n the Easter Rsng, and was executed as the top leader of the nsurrecton, and hs tragc death and those of other revolutonares gnted the natonalsm of the Irsh naton. In ths sense, he acheved hs am. Yeats much preferred MacDonagh to Pearse; n fact, Yeats and Pearse were not frendly. Yeats scholar R. F. Foster (2003) calls Pearse as Yeats's "old adversary" (p. 44). Yeats dsagreed wth Pearse' s extreme natonalsm-evdence for hs stance can be found n a letter Yeats wrote a letter to hs sster Lly just after the uprsng, whch Foster quotes (housed n the Prnceton Unversty Yeats Collecton):

15 48 I know most of the Snn Fen leaders [of the uprsng! & the whole thng bewlders me for Connolly s an able man & Thomas MacDonough [sc both able and cultvated. Pearse I have long looked upon a man made dangerous by the Vertgo of Self Sacrfce." (qtd. Foster, 2003, p. 46) The letter clearly reveals Yeats' s dsagreement wth Pearse' s poltcal atttude. Concernng the Irsh ndependent movement, Yeats expressed a motto, learned from hs teacher John O' Leary: "There are thngs a man must not do to save a naton" (Yeats, 999, p. 0). Because of Yeats' s dsagreement wth Pearse' s poltcs, Yeats descrbes Pearse n a dry style n hs poem, wthout expressng a narratve evaluaton. In the last part of ths stanza, John MacBrde, the husband of Yeats' s beloved, appears: 3. Ths other man I had dreamed 32. A drunken, vanglorous lout. 33. He had done most btter wrong 34. To some who are near my heart, 35. Yet I number hm n the song; 36. He, too, has resgned hs part 37. In the casual comedy; 38. He, too, has been changed n hs turn, 39. Transformed utterly: 40. A terrble beauty s born. WB Enactors: I, "ths other man" (John MacBrde), some who are near my heart (Maud Gonne and Iseull Gonne ), a terrble beauty FA had dreamed MODAL WORLD (Indrect Thought) ths other man * a drunken, vanglorous lout had done most btter wrong to some who are near my heart

16 W. B. Yeats's Psychologcal Atttudes toward the Easter Rsng 49 yet I number hm * n the song he and other persons] too has resgned hs part -* n the casual comedy he and other persons too has been changed -* n hs turn (he [and other persons] too) transformed utterly a terrble beauty s born Fgure 2.4. The text world dagram of "Easter, 96," lnes "Ths other man" s John Macbrdc, the husband of Maud Gonne, who abused both hs wfe and daughter (McCready, 997, p.233). In ths segment, he s depcted as a nasty and cruel fgure: a "drunken, vanglorous lout" who "had done most btter wrong / some who are near my [Yeats' sj heart [.e. Maud and her daughter Iseult." However, ths negatve descrpton s contaned wthn the narrator' s modal world as the narrator' s ndrect thought. Ths mples that Yeats' s awareness of John Macbrde as a"drunken, vanglorous lout"represents hs based subjectve noton. It s a hstorcal fact tha John Macbrde also acted as a leader of the Easter Rsng, and was later executed. In ths stanza, the narrator depcts the four man leaders of the nsurrecton. Three of the four were executed-only Constance Markevcz survved. In the poem, the word "ths" s used for the three executed revolutonares, whle "that" s used for the survvor, Markevcz. "Ths" and "that" reveal the speaker' s psychologcal dstance: Yeats stands besde the dead. One feature of modalty s that t shows the speaker' s psychologcal dstance; t s nterestng to note that the only person who s not wrtten n

17 50 modal expresson s Patrck Pearse. As dscussed, Pearse eagerly advocated martyrdom as a symbolc baptsm of "bloodshed for Ireland." Standng besde the dead revolutonares, Yeats keeps hs dstance from ths advocator of martyrdom n the nsurrecton. Ths partcular pont seems to represent one of the sgnfcant fruts of the adaptaton of text world theory to ths poem. 8. The analyss of the thrd stanza of "Easter, 96." In contrast to the other stanzas, the thrd stanza depcts a nature scene, whose settng s of the area around a stream, presented n present smple tense: 4. Hearts wth one purpose alone 42. Through summer and wnter seem 43. Enchanted to a stone 44. To trouble the lvng stream. 45. The horse that comes from the road. 46. The rder, the brds that range 47. From cloud to tumblng cloud, 48. Mnute by mnute they change; 49. A shadow of cloud on the stream 50. Changes mnute by mnute; 5. A horse-hoof sldes on the brm, 52. And a horse plashes wthn t; 53. The long-legged moor-hens dve, 54. And hens to moor-cocks call; 55. Mnute by mnute they lve: 56. The stone's n the mdst of all. Ths stanza' s text world dagram s smple due to ts mnmal usage of modalty. Please sec Fgure 3: TEXT WORLD: Stanza III WB Tme: present smple Locaton: stream Enactors: hearts wth one purpose alone, the horse, the rder, the brds, a shadow of cloud on the stream, the long-legged moor-hens, moor-cocks, the stone

18 W. B. Yeats's Psychologcal Atttudes toward the Easter Rsng 5 FA MODAL WORLD (Epstemc) hearts * wth one purpose alone * through summer and wnter seem to be] enchanted to a stone * to trouble the lvng stream the horse that comes * from the road the rder the brds that range -* from cloud to tumblng cloud they change -* mnute by mnute a shadow of cloud on the stream changes * mnute by mnute a horse-hoof and a horse sldes * on the brm plashes * wthn t the long-legged moor-hens moor-cocks dve call * to hens they lve -* mnute by mnute the stone's - n the mdst of all Fgure 3. The text world dagram of "Easter, 96," lnes Only n the begnnng part of ths stanza, contanng the mage of "a stone," s modalty used. Ths segment reflects Yeats' s assessment of the uprsng: narrow natonalsm (lke that of Pearse) can unte many hearts as a stone (as one), but ths unty s also hard (cold, uncompassonate) and senseless. In the remanng portons of the stanza s depcted the changes of the lves of lvng bengs, n the contnual mutaton of the natural world; the actons of a horse crossng streams, etc., are vvdly descrbed n present smple tense. In ths stanza, "change" of state n the natural world s descrbed. As dscussed n Secton 6, "change of state" s a key concept

19 5? of Yeats' s phlosophy of tragedy. In ths stanza, the "change of state" n the natural world s related to the "change of state" n Dubln, whch brought about "the Dubln tragedy" wth a "terrble beauty." The dagram of ths stanza has many vertcal arrows, ndcatng that ths stanza s comparatvely dynamc. However the closng part of ths stanza s statc and t s the only stanza whch closes wth a horzontal lne. Ths statc qualty can be assocated wth death (and n the next stanza, death wll be further dscussed). 9. The fourth stanza of "Easter, 96" ; questons and potental answers. The fourth stanza s the clmax of ths poem. The narrator' s frequent usage of modalty shows hs ambvalence, creatng seven modal worlds wthn the text world of ths stanza, and there s a structural pattern to these modal worlds as well. Most of the modal worlds Yeats creates take the form of questons. Yeats' s ambvalence grows untl the medtaton as a whole takes on a repeatng pattern of self-questonng-and-answerng. Ths stanza develops va an alternaton of questons wth answers; to be accurate, wth potental answers. The questons are not only drected toward the author, Yeats hmself, but also toward the reader. Ths repetton of the self-questonng and answerng narratve not only expresses Yeats' s ambvalence but also causes the reader to thnk more deeply about the uprsng. Now, let us examne the fnal stanza: 57. Too long a sacrfce 58. Can make a stone of the heart. 59. O when may t suffce? 60. That s Heaven's part, our part 6. To murmur name upon name, 62. As a mother names her chld 63. When sleep at last has come 64. On lmbs that had run wld. The text world dagram of ths part s below: TEXT WORLD: Stanza IV WB Tme: present smple Enactors: too long a sacrfce, Heaven's part, our part, a mother, her chld, sleep

20 W. B. Yeats's Psychologcal Atttudes toward the Easter Rsng 53 FA MODAL WORLD (Epstemc) too long a sacrfce (Queston) can make a stone of the heart MODAL WORLD (Interrogatve) O when may suffce ' t? (Potental Answer) That * s Heaven's part our part * to murmur name upon name -* as a mother names her chld * when sleep has come * at last had run wld. -* on lmbs that Fgure 4.. The text world dagram of "Easter, 96," lnes In ths segment, s a further reference to the "stone," whch frst appeared n the thrd stanza. The expresson "hearts wth one purpose alone" connotes a tone of accusaton aganst narrow-mnded natonalsm (as dscussed above). On the other hand, the phrase, "too long a sacrfce" mples Yeats' s compasson. The succeedng lne s a follow-up queston: "O when may t suffce?" The t" n ths nterrogatve sentence s "too long a sacrfce." Ths queston encourages the reader to consder the long hstory of Ireland as a Brtsh colony. Yeats attempts to present an answer, or potental answer, to the queston. Concernng ths pont, Yeats' s atttude mples that he does not regard the Easter Rsng as the "queston" to solve the problem. The queston "when may t suffce?" can be paraphrased nto the followng: n the long hstory of a subject-colony, when (and how) wll the end of the chan of volence for ndependence, and volence related to suppresson, end? Ths queston s also not lmted

21 54 to the stuaton of Ireland n the early 20th century. Yeats admts that answerng to ths queston s hard, and wrtes the answerng to ths queston s "Heaven' s part." He tres to perform "our part" : the namng of the dead, as a potental answer. Because the commemoraton of the dead n poetry s part of a longstandng tradton of Irsh poets, Yeats uses the phrase "our part," depctng the poets' roe n the domestc mage of mother and chld. Here, a strange twst occurs: the topc shfts from "loo long a sacrfce" to the Easter Rsng tself. Here, "too long a sacrfce" refers to the long hstory of Ireland, the hstorcal context of the uprsng. In fact, from the followng secton, "t" refers to the Easter Rsng and the loss of lfe of ts leaders: 65. What s t but nghtfall? 66. No. no. not nght but death; 67. Was t needless death after all? 68. For England may keep fath 69. For all that s done and sad. 70. We know ther dream: enough 7. To know they dreamed and are dead; 72. And what f excess of love 73. Bewldered them tll they ded? WB Enactors: t [the Easter Rsng and the loss of lves of the leader] England, we, they, ther dream, excess of love FA (Queston) MODAL WORLD (Interrogatve) what * s t * but nghtfall? (Potental Answer) No, no, not nght -* but death (Queston) MODAL WORLD (Interrogatve) t * was t needless death -* after all?

22 W. B. Yeats's Psychologcal Atttudes toward the Easter Rsng 55 (Potental Answer) MODAL WORLD (Hypothess) MODAL WORLD (Hypothess) For England For all that For England may keep fath s done and sad may keep fath We know enough to know I MODAL WORLD (b) ther dream * they * and are dead dreamed (Queston) MODAL WORLD (Interrogatve) and what f excess of love bewldered them -* tll they ded? Fuure 4.2. The text world dagram of "Easter, 96," lnes In ths segment, the cost of the uprsng s assessed by Yeats, who wrtes: "Was t needless death after all? / For England may keep fath / For all that s done and sad." Focusng on ths part, Brearton (2000) states: "Yeats seems to have been the only person n Ireland at ths tme even to hnt that England was capable of keepng fath wth anybody" (p. 34). Yeats, as an Anglo-Irsh poet, s not only aware of Ireland but also of England. Yeats also wrtes: "We know ther [the leaders' ] dream; enough / to know they dreamed and are dead."he shows compasson for the dead, however, the potental answer, "for England may keep fath / For all that s done and sad" seems to conclude that ther deaths were needless. It s dffcult to present a proper answer to the next queston: "what f excess of love / bewldered them tll they ded?" The answer here may also be found n "Heaven' s part." Therefore, Yeats performs what he can do, as a poet of Ireland: 74. I wrte t out n a verse MacDonagh and MacBrde

23 And Connolly and Pearse 77. Now and n tme to be, 78. Wherever green s worn, 79. Are changed, changed utterly: 80. A terrble beauty s born. WB Enactors: I, MacDonagh, MacBrde, Connolly, Pearse, now and n tme to be, wherever green s worn, a terrble beauty FA (Potental Answer) wrte out l * n a verse * MacDonagh and MacBrde and Connolly and Pearse Now and n lme to be -* wherever green * s worn are changed, changed utterly a terrble beauty s born Fgure 4.3. The text world dagram of Easter, 96," lnes As a potental answer, Yeats wrtes down the names of the dead leaders n ths poem, as a commemoraton, accordng to poetc tradton. Note also that n ths commemoraton, rather than usng the name Markevcz, who survved, the name of [James] Connolly (868-96), the executed leader who, lke Markevcz, was also a workers' leader, s wrtten. On ths pont too, Yeats stands on the sde of the dead. After the commemoraton, the poem concludes wth the famous refran, "A terrble beauty s born." The refran ntegrates the four text worlds; thus Yeats' s narratve and the hstorcal event are blended n the reader' s mnd. 0. Concluson. As a poet of Ireland, Yeats confronted a volent turnng pont n Irsh

24 W. B. Yeats's Psychologcal Atttudes toward the Easter Rsng 57 hstory, and wrote "Easter 96" wth ambvalent emoton. Hs psychologcal ambvalence, as reflected n the poem, has been examned through an analyss of modalty, utlzng text world theory. Ths new theoretcal approach can be helpful n that t can reveal the narrator' s psychologcal atttude toward a partcular subject. By utlzng ths method several new elements relatng to Yeats' s psychologcal dstance from the leaders of the uprsng can be seen n some detal, partcularly Yeats' s atttude toward the uprsng' s presdent, Patrck Pearse. At the poem' s clmax, the modal expressons showng ambvalence take the form of self-questonng, nvolvng the reader n ths questonng, and mpellng the reader' s contemplaton of the events of the uprsng. In followng the tradton of the Irsh poets, Yeats has commemorated the revolutonares by namng them n hs poem as a potental answer n order to resolve hs ambvalence. References Allson, J. (2006). Yeats and poltcs. In. M. Howes & J. Kelly (Eds.) The Cambrdge Companon to W. B. Yeats. Cambrdge: Cambrdge Unversty Press. Brearton, F. (2000). The great war n Irsh poetry: IV. B. Yeats to Mchael Longley. New York: Oxford Unversty Press. Eagleton, T. (97). Hstory and myth n Yeats' s Easter 96'. Essays n Crtcsm, 2:3, Edwards. R. D. (977). Patrck Pearse: the trumph of falure. London: Vcor Gollancz. Ellmann, R. (978). Yeats: the man and the masks, New York: Norton. Foster, R. F. (997). W. B. Yeats: a lfe. Vol., the apprentce mage, Oxford: Oxford Unversty Press. Foster, R. F. (2003). W. B. Yeats: a lfe. Vol.2, the arch-poet, Oxford: Oxford Unversty Press. Gavns, J. (2005). (Re) thnkng modalty: a texl-world perspectve. Journal of Lterary Semantcs Gavns, J. (2007). Text world theory: an ntroducton. Ednburgh: Ednburgh Unversty Press. Hdalgo-Downng, L. (2000). Negaton, text worlds, and dscourse: the pragmatcs of Catch-22: the pragmatcs offcton. Stamford, CT: Ablex. Holdrdge, J. (2000). Those mngled seas: the poetry of W. B. Yeats, the beautful, and the sublme. Dubln: Unversty College Dubln Press. McCready, S. (997). A Wllam Butler Yeats encyclopeda. Connectcut: Greenwood. Smpson, P. (993). Language, deology, and pont of vew. London: Routledge. Smpson, P. (2004). Stylstcs: a resourcebookfor students. London: Routledge. Werth, P. (999). Text worlds: representng conceptual space n dscourse. Harlow: Lomjman, 999.

25 58 Yeals, W. B. (999). Autobographes. New York: Scrbner. Yeats, W. B. (954). The letters ofw. B. Yeats. A. Wade (Eds.) London: Rupert Hart- Davs. Yeats, W. B. (997). The poems. (2nd cd.) R. Fnneran (Eds.) New York: Scrbner.