8220;red” symbolizing blood. Another example of personifying Ireland as a human being was “Made Ireland as a human being to beat;” (Finneran 50). The heartbeat could symbolize life, which meant the history of Ireland began and would live on.Imagery is sensory or pictorial language that is used to enrich meaning. It may appeal to the eye, ear, taste, smell, touch, or movement, and it may be used symbolically. It often conveys through similes, metaphors, or personifications. (Rosenberg 877)Imagery was one of the important elements in the poem “To Ireland in the Coming Times” and “September 1913.” Yeats used the image of candles being lit to refer the beginning of the Irish history in the poem “To Ireland in the Coming Times.” He wrote, “And time bade all his candles flare, / To light a measure here and there” (Finneran 50). He was creating an image of light shining all over Ireland to allude to the dawn of history in Ireland. An example of imagery that Yeats used in “September 1913” described the marrow being dried from the bone. He wrote, “And prayer to shivering prayer, until you have dried the marrow from the bone” (Finneran 108). The inclusion of this cruel image was to bring a message that taking money from other people was as cruel as sucking out the marrow from their bones.An oxymoron is a paradoxical utterance conjoining two terms that are contrary in ordinary usage. (Abrams 127) In “Easter 1916,” Yeats used an oxymoron to reveal the future of Ireland by saying this line, “A terrible beauty is born.” (Finneran 180). He repeated this statement in every stanza, for a total of four times. When this line was first read, it seemed impossible because these two words contradicted each other. However, this contradiction existed in Ireland and predicted the future of this place. Yeats was using “terrible...
