26
select the correct text in the passage
the following excerpt is taken from wb yeats's poem "easter, 1916," in which he examines his feelings toward those who took part in the easter
rising in ireland. which set of lines suggests that yeats considered the rebels inflexible?
too long a sacrifice
can make a stone of the heart
o when may it suffice?
that is heaven's part, our part
to murmur name upon name,
as a mother names her child
when sleep at last has come
on limbs that had run wild
what is it but nightfall?
no, no, not night but death
was it needless death after all?
for england may keep faith
for all that is done and said
we know their dream, enough
to know they dreamed and are dead
and what if excess of love
bewildered them till they died?
i write it out in a verse-
macdonagh and macbride
119 edmentum. all rights reserved