The protagonists

1. EASTER 1916 BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
ANALYSIS OF THE SECOND STANZA

2. In the second stanza of Easter
1916, Yeats names the rebels
by their social roles as their
real names will be listed
directly in the fourth and final
stanza of the poem. The
people Yeats mentions in the
text are actual historical
figures.

3. Constance Markievicz
Constance Markievicz is the first
character presented by Yeats, she is one
of the leaders of the Easter Uprising,
which is known to have designed the
Citizen Army uniform. She used to ride
horses and hunt rabbits, but then she got
involved in the Rising thanks to her
husband. The narrator lets us know she
was sweeter before arguing for Irish
independence, because of the
metonymy used to compare her “shrill”
voice to her femininity.

4. Padraic Pearse
• Padraic Pearse, a poet and
another leader of the Uprising.
• Yeats mentions this man as
riding “our winged horse.” This
is a reference to the Pegasus,
which represented poets in
Greek mythology.

5. Thomas MacDonagh
• He was also a poet but was executed
before he could write anything lasting.
• Yeats hoped this young man would
become a great name in literature.

6. MACBRIDE AND THE CASUAL COMEDY
• Yeats hates MacBride because he was married to
Maud Gonne, a woman Yeats was deeply in love
with, and he was accused of physically abusing
her.
• Yeats decided to add MacBride in «easter 1916»
only because he died fighting
• Casual comedy: Yeats and MacBride fought for the
love of a woman like the two main characters of
the shakespeare comedies (MacBride leaves his
part in the comedy to defence his country)