September 1913 - W.B. Yeats
A Fiery Critique of Irish Materialism and Forgotten Noble Ideals
September 1913
(I)
What need you, being come to sense,
But fumble in a greasy till
And add the halfpence to the pence
And prayer to shivering prayer, until
You have dried the marrow from the bone?
For men were born to pray and save:
Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone,
It’s with O’Leary in the grave.
(II)
Yet they were of a different kind,
The names that stilled your childish play,
They have gone about the world like wind,
But little time had they to pray
For whom the hangman’s rope was spun,
And what, God help us, could they save?
Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone,
It’s with O’Leary in the grave.
(III)
Was it for this the wild geese spread
The grey wing upon every tide;
For this that all that blood was shed,
For this Edward Fitzgerald died,
And Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone,
All that delirium of the brave?
Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone,
It’s with O’Leary in the grave.
(IV)
Yet could we turn the years again,
And call those exiles as they were
In all their loneliness and pain,
You’d cry, “Some woman’s yellow hair
Has maddened every mother’s son”:
They weighed so lightly what they gave.
But let them be, they’re dead and gone,
They’re with O’Leary in the grave.
W.B. Yeats’s “September 1913” is a scathing commentary on what the poet perceives as Irish society’s descent into materialism and complacency. Written against the backdrop of the 1913 Dublin Lockout and the broader push for Home Rule, the poem expresses Yeats’s frustration at the petty, profit-driven mindset he sees replacing the spirit of sacrifice and nationalism once celebrated in earlier generations.
Throughout the poem, Yeats contrasts the modern Irish citizen—obsessed with saving pennies and clinging to the safety of prayer—with the heroic figures of Ireland’s past, such as Edward Fitzgerald, Robert Emmet, and Wolfe Tone. These historical icons, referred to as the “wild geese” of Irish patriots, willingly risked their lives for noble ideals of freedom and identity. By repeatedly stating, “Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone, It’s with O’Leary in the grave,” Yeats drives home his lament that the fervor and moral courage once championed by John O’Leary and others have disappeared under the weight of comfortable mediocrity.
The poem is structured in four eight-line stanzas, and each stanza ends with the same refrain about the death of “Romantic Ireland.” This refrain underscores Yeats’s anxiety that Ireland’s heroic tradition is irretrievable. Yet the refrain also carries a note of defiance, insinuating that these figures remain a benchmark of what true devotion looks like.
At its core, “September 1913” attacks a specific moment in Irish civic life—namely the reluctance of many in the Irish middle class to support radical labor or nationalist causes—but it also resonates as a more universal indictment of any society that forgets its loftier values. Yeats links historical memory with moral duty, insisting that a country ignoring the idealism of its past risks spiritual stagnation. Ultimately, the poem mingles anger, nostalgia, and regret, culminating in a stark moral challenge: Can Ireland recapture the heroic spirit that once burned so brightly, or is it irretrievably gone?
Key points
1. Yeats condemns the fixation on wealth and security at the expense of national and cultural ideals.
2. Repeated references to “Romantic Ireland” highlight the fading memory of past revolutionaries.
3. The poem serves as both protest and lament, urging a renewal of selfless devotion.
4. “September 1913” remains a searing critique of complacency, questioning whether a society has lost its soul.