An Irish Airman Foresees His Dream Analysis

An Irish Airman Foresees His Dream is poem written by W.B Yeats in 1918 but got published only in 1919. It is a reflective narrative poem written from the perspective of a pilot who is in the World War I. The title of the poem suggests that the speaker foresees his death meaning that he knows he will die in the battle. In this poem Yeats expresses his admiration and gratitude towards his friend who died in World War I. The speaker is an Irish airman fighting in World War I, and he knows he will die fighting in the cloud. In the poem speaker says that he do not hate with whom he fight against, or he do not love for whom he fights. He has no side to protect or defeat but he explains where he lived and why he joined the fighting. He explains about the place Kiltartan Cross but the reason why he joined the war is not clearly explained in the poem. According to Hanley (2013) observed that the poem was written during the time of World war I, when British fought against Germany and British during the

It was written in admiration to Gregory who died in the World War I when he was a pilot. He knew his death and his reason for joining the British army was not clearly mentioned to last but it seems that he was recruited army according to the historical or contextual information. He had sacrificed his life and signed up for British army but he is happy that he could at least do a heroic business and regrets for wasting his life before the battle. There are symbols used by Yeats to describe both preordained and long associated symbols with contextual or background knowledge to understand. Therefore, the poem An Irish Airman Foresees His Death explores the symbols such as clouds, places and people to make people understand the Irish poem by an Irish man with background and historical