History & Politics
Sixteen Dead Men
From Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921)
O but we talked at large before
The sixteen men were shot,
But who can talk of give and take,
What should be and what not?
While those dead men are loitering there
To stir the boiling pot.
You say that we should still the land
Till Germany’s overcome;
But who is there to argue that
Now Pearse is deaf and dumb?
And is their logic to outweigh
MacDonagh’s bony thumb?
How could you dream they’d listen
That have an ear alone
For those new comrades they have found
Lord Edward and Wolfe Tone,
Or meddle with our give and take
That converse bone to bone.
Codex Note
Argument about 'give and take' and when to still the land has no force now that the executed leaders (Pearse, MacDonagh) are dead and lie with 'Lord Edward and Wolfe Tone', conversing 'bone to bone'.
Cite this poem
MLA
Yeats, W. B. “Sixteen Dead Men.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/yeats/56/.
Chicago
Yeats, W. B. “Sixteen Dead Men.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/yeats/56/.
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