<Tr> <Th> Followed by </Th> <Td> Men Improve with the Years </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Read online </Th> <Td> An Irish Airman Foresees His Death at Wikisource </Td> </Tr> <P> "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death" is a poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939) written in 1918 and first published in the Macmillan edition of The Wild Swans at Coole in 1919 . The poem is a soliloquy given by an aviator in the First World War in which the narrator describes the circumstances surrounding his imminent death . The poem is a work that discusses the role of Irish soldiers fighting for the United Kingdom during a time when they were trying to establish independence for Ireland . Wishing to show restraint from publishing political poems during the height of the war, Yeats withheld publication of the poem until after the conflict had ended . </P> <P> I know that I shall meet my fate, Somewhere among the clouds above; Those that I fight I do not hate, Those that I guard I do not love; My country is Kiltartan Cross, My countrymen Kiltartan's poor, No likely end could bring them loss Or leave them happier than before . Nor law, nor duty bade me fight, Nor public men, nor cheering crowds, A lonely impulse of delight Drove to this tumult in the clouds; I balanced all, brought all to mind, The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath the years behind In balance with this life, this death . </P>

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