1. ‘An Irishman Foresees his Death’ Yeats’ Agenda: Use the images and selected lines from today’s poem to explore Yeats’ agenda in this poem:  Key themes  Poetic features  Recurring imagery  Attitudes and ideas  Contrasts and oppositions

2. Poem Reading https://prezi.com/ykwezztlhduv/an-irish-airman-foresees-his- death-wb-yeats/ https://prezi.com/ykwezztlhduv/an-irish-airman-foresees-his- death-wb-yeats/ Make detailed notes as we watch. Balance is a key image in the poem. List all of the ways we can see balance.  Structure?  Form?  Imagery?  Language?  Ideas?

3. Context: 1918 This poem was written about Major Robert Gregory who was mistakenly shot down during WWI by Italian allies. He was an Irish pilot and close friend of Yeats, he was the son of Lady Gregory who owned Coole Park. It is one of four elegies written about Major Gregory. It is written from Major Gregory’s perspective and explores the reasons behind Gregory’s decision to become a pilot during WWI.

4. Lesson 2: An Irish Airman Famously, Yeats did not rate the poetry of Wilfred Owen very highly and excluded the English WW1 poet from The Oxford Book of Modern Verse, 1892-1935. In particular Yeats argued that: “passive suffering is not a theme for poetry” In contrast, Owen himself outlined his ideas about poetry in the following way: “This book is not about heroes. English poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Nor is it about deeds, or land, nor anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power, except War. Above all I am concerned with Poetry. My subject is War, and the pity of War. The poetry is in the pity….All a poet can do today is warn. That is why true poets must be truthful.” Find a quotation in the poem which you think supports this assertion from Yeats. Collect Airman Questions

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-0K5STEWAs

6. Broken Pieces Yeats condemns the affects of conflict. Yeats celebrates the heroic sacrifices of soldiers. Yeats Romanticises the death of Robert Gregory. Yeats continues to explore the importance of Irish nationalism in this poem. Yeats shows that death is inevitable and in a balanced and harmonious world

7. Yeats V Wilfred Owen Famously, Yeats did not rate the poetry of Wilfred Owen very highly and excluded the English WW1 poet from The Oxford Book of Modern Verse, 1892-1935. In particular Yeats argued that: “passive suffering is not a theme for poetry” In contrast, Owen himself outlined his ideas about poetry in the following way: “This book is not about heroes. English poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Nor is it about deeds, or land, nor anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power, except War. Above all I am concerned with Poetry. My subject is War, and the pity of War. The poetry is in the pity….All a poet can do today is warn. That is why true poets must be truthful.”

8. Tomorrow: Short quiz on poems so far Planning a comparative essay