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An Irish Airman Foresees His Death : Key info

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An Irish Airman Foresees His Death is a notable literary work by William Butler Yeats. A complete discussion of this literary work is given, which will help you enhance your literary skills and prepare for the exam. Read the Main texts, Key info, Summary, Themes, Characters, Literary devices, Quotations, Notes, and various study materials of An Irish Airman Foresees His Death.

Key info

Key Facts

  • Poet: William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
  • Original Title: An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
  • Written Time: Around 1918 (during World War I)
  • First Published: 1919, in the collection The Wild Swans at Coole
  • Form: Dramatic Monologue / Lyric Poem
  • Genre: War Poetry, Philosophical Poetry, and Elegy
  • Tone: Calm, Reflective, Stoic, and Fatalistic
  • Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH (regular alternating rhyme)
  • Meter: Iambic Tetrameter
  • Point of View: First Person (spoken by the airman himself)
  • Summary in a Line: An Irish pilot calmly accepts his death in war. He is fighting neither for hate nor for love, but from a lonely personal impulse.
  • Total Lines: 16
  • Total Stanzas: 1 (a single continuous stanza)
  • Setting:
  • Time Setting: World War I (1914–1918)
  • Place Setting: The skies over Europe, symbolically “among the clouds above.”