On Being Asked For A War

William Butler Yeats wrote the poem, “On Being Asked for a War Poem,” after he was asked to write a political poem on the first World War. Many feel that this poem reflects Yeats’ inner conflict over whether poets can write war poetry. To others, this poem considers a recurring question, what is the role of the poet in society, and what is the function of poetry? In this poem, Yeats communicates his opinion that a poet should speak only about traditional romantic subjects and leave the war to soldiers and politicians. In one line in particular he states that poets “have no gift to set a statesman right.” The position taken by Yeats is that poets have no “gift”, or ability, to tell statesman how they should make decisions. In his opinion,

One might say that “Three lives” refers to the Trinity, which is a religious reference. These words depict a religious struggle during a very tough time in the author’s life. Alternatively, “Iron”, “gold” and “honey” in line six can refer to the physical and symbolic aspects of each material. “Iron” is a solid and strong metal that is used for making bullets and weapons for war. “Gold” symbolizes wealth and material goods. Gold is a pure special metal that represents a state of economic stability when society prospers and grows; the exact opposite of war. “Honey” suggests soft, flowing sweetness and is a Biblical reference where the land of Canaan is described as the “land of milk and honey.” As such “Iron, honey, gold,” are three integral components to human life. The second stanza closes with what is left in the world, no wealth, preciousness or sweetness, just “the hard and

There are both figurative and literal meanings to “iron” in the last four lines of the poem. Iron can be defined as cruel and cold. This is what the war has done to the poet personally and civilization as a whole. In line one of the third stanza, “Iron are our lives” evokes the “hard and cold” struggle for life which is mentioned in the second stanza. The iron is then transformed before the reader’s eye into “molten,” iron’s heated form. We feel the “burning” shrapnel piercing through a soldier literally or figuratively it can be viewed as the passion of the soldier. In line three of the final stanza a “burnt space through ripe fields” can be understood literally as the burning fields destroyed in the war. Figuratively, we can see the “ripe fields” alluding to the young soldier’s loss of life. The devastation when referring to “field” reminds us of the “granary” again in the first