Philosophy

A response to the ruthless mercenary employers who locked out their workers in the General Strike in 1913: the poem is also a comment on the refusal of commercial interests to support Yeats' appeal for money to build an Art Gallery to house the Lane collection. The poem is a scathing criticism of the mercenary materialism he felt was rampant in the Ireland of 1913. The Scrooge image first introduced in "fumble in a greasy till" is a devastating swipe at the captains of industry and commerce. The wooden till has become shiny (greasy) with over-use: the word "fumble" suggests the idea of the body being withered in the relentless pursuit of money for its own sake. Yet these people can justify or excuse their materialism through religion. That materialism and life of the spirit cannot be reconciled is tellingly conveyed in "pray and save". Prayer, love of God, something which is surely full of warmth and passion, is here described as "shivering". The barren, shivering hypocrisy of these people is bitterly and sarcastically hammered home. Then comes the refrain - "Romantic Ireland's dead and gone. It's with O'Leary in the grave." John O'Leary, an old Fenian, emerges as the antithesis of the greedy, sordid, grasping Dublin merchants. O'Leary is a symbol of integrity, idealism and vision. John O'Leary reached that independence and freedom was something spiritual, freedom of spirit and the opportunity to turn dreams into reality. The spirit of Romance is gone from the year 1913. No idealism now: just cynicism and greed. The verse is pregnant with sarcasm, a tone of utter revolution, but the tone begins to soften with the mention of O'Leary. There is a dramatic change of rhythm as Yeats reverentially surveys the Ireland that is "dead and gone". Contempt evaporates as an elevated rhythm develops as he almost whispers in awe and wonder about the idealistic romantic heroes of Irish History who sacrificed all the