Easter, 1916

Easter, 1916 is a poem by W. B. Yeats describing the poet's torn emotions regarding the events of the Easter Rising staged in Ireland against British rule on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916. The uprising was unsuccessful, and most of the Irish republican leaders involved were executed. The poem was written between May and September 1916, printed privately, 25 copies, and appeared in magazines in 1920 but first published in 1920 in the collection Michael Robartes and the Dancer.