tony wrote:

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
by William Butler Yeats

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.


Although I appreciated reading this, the mental attitude it suggests is
inconsistant with most pilots I've been privilged to know.

But then how many Irish airmen fighting for the British in World War I have you
been privileged to know? ;

I'd say it reflects very powerfully the feelings of a number of combat pilots,
especially those who fought to defend another nation against its enemies. I feel
that I know exactly what Yeats is saying, though this poem, and several others
which Yeats wrote in memory of his friend Major Robert Gregory, carries more
meaning than any one of us is likely impart to it out of his own experience --
like all good writing.

See: http://ireland.wlu.edu/landscape/Group1/index.htm

http://ireland.wlu.edu/landscape/Gro...rt_gregory.htm

"Robert Gregory, the son of W.B.Yeats's friend Lady Gregory,
was a well-rounded man. He studied at Harrow, New College,
and the Slade, and he excelled at bowling, boxing, and
horseback riding. He worked in Jacques Blanche's design studio
and had his own exhibition of paintings in Chelsea in 1914.
In 1915, he joined the war effort and became a member of the
4th Connaught Rangers. He then transferred to the Royal Flying
Corps in 1916, and he became Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur
in 1917. Gregory earned a Military Cross 'for conspicuous
gallantry and devotion to duty.' He died tragically at the age
of thirty-seven when an Italian pilot mistakenly shot him down.

"Robert Gregory's death had an lasting effect on Yeats, who wrote
four poems about him:

'In Memory of Major Robert Gregory,'
http://www.bartleby.com/148/2.html

'An Irish Airman foresees his Death,'
http://www.bartleby.com/148/3.html

'Shepherd and Goatherd,'
http://www.poetryconnection.net/poet...ler_Yeats/1530

'Reprisals'
[If you find a copy on line, _please_ share the URL]

-----------------


Jack

"All things can tempt me from this craft of verse
One time it was a woman’s face, or worse
The seeming needs of my fool-driven land."
-- All Things Can Tempt Me, William Butler Yeats