"Easter, 1916" William Butler Yeats Howe Tonya Transcription, correction, editorial commentary, and markup Students and Staff of the University of Virginia National Endowment for the Humanities Literature in Context
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Published by Literature in Context under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License "Easter, 1916" William Butler Yeats Michael Robartes and the Dancer [Dublin] Churchtown and Dundrum The Cuala Press 1920 Yeats' poem was initially printed in The Dial, and then subsequently published in Michael Robartes and the Dancer (Cuala Press, 1920). Cuala Press was an important private Arts and Crafts press in Ireland, set up by Yeats' sisters, Elizabeth and Susan, and associated with the Irish Literary Revival of the early 20th century. This digital edition uses the first printing in Michael Robartes and the Dancer, available on Google Books (https://www.google.com/books/edition/Michael_Robartes_and_the_Dancer/dWs6AQAAMAAJ). For more information about the Cuala Press, see The Library of Trinity College, Dublin. pp 9-11 English print single poem

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 Numbered divs used. Library of Congress Name Authority File Library of Congress Classification Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names Open Researcher and Contributor ID transcribed for Literature in Context edition MICHAEL ROBARTES AND THEDANCER, BY WILLIAM BUTLERYEATS. THE CUALA PRESS CHURCHTOWNDUDNRUM JUNE 1924
EASTER, 1916. I have met them at close of day Coming with vivid faces From counter or desk among grey Eighteenth-century houses. I have passed with a nod of the head Or polite meaningless words, Or have lingered awhile and said Polite meaningless words, And thought before I had done Of a mocking tale or a gibe To please a companion Around the fire at the club, Being certain that they and I But lived where motley is worn: All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born. That woman's days were spent In ignorant good-will, Her nights in argument Until her voice grew shrill. What voice more sweet than hers When, young and beautiful, She rode to harriers? This man had kept a school And rode our winged horse; This other his helper and friend Was coming into his force; He might have won fame in the end, So sensitive his nature seemed, So daring and sweet his thought. This other man I had dreamed A drunken, vain-glorious lout. He had done most bitter wrong To some who are near my heart, Yet I number him in the song; He, too, has resigned his part In the casual comedy; He, too, has been changed in his turn, Transformed utterly: A terrible beauty is born. Hearts with one purpose alone Through summer and winter seem Enchanted to a stone To trouble the living stream. The horse that comes from the road, The rider, the birds that range From cloud to tumbling cloud, Minute by minute they change; A shadow of cloud on the stream Changes minute by minute; A horse-hoof slides on the brim, And a horse plashes within it; The long-legged moor-hens dive, And hens to moor-cocks call. Minute by minute they live: The stone's in the midst of all. Too long a sacrifice Can make a stone of the heart. O when may it suffice? That is heaven's part, our part To murmur name upon name, As a mother names her child When sleep at last has come On limbs that had run wild. What is it but nightfall? No, no, not night but death; Was it needless death after all? For England may keep faith For all that is done and said. We know their dream; enough To know they dreamed and are dead; And what if excess of love Bewildered them till they died? I write it out in a verse— MacDonagh and MacBride And Connolly and Pearse Now and in time to be, Wherever green is worn, Are changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born.
September 25th, 1916