Terence Winch: Craic-Head Poetry

  O n Easter Monday of 1916, 150 or so Irish rebels took armed action against their British rulers, seizing the General Post Office (GPO) in Dublin. After a week of fighting, they were defeated by the thousands of British troops arrayed against them; but the Easter Rising ultimately led to Irish independence from the mighty British Empire. Given the musical and literary traditions of the Irish, it is no surprise that the rebellion also gave rise to poems, songs, movies, and books. In fact, Patrick Pearse , one of the leaders of the Rising, was himself a poet. Probably the best-known of the poems to have been inspired by the conflict is William Butler Yeats 's “Easter 1916.” Several of poem's memorable phrases continue to echo more than a hundred years later:  Easter 1916 I I have met them at close of day Coming with vivid faces From counter or desk among grey Eighteenth-century houses. I have passed with a nod of the head Or polite meaningless words, Or have lingered aw...