Kiltartan (Symbol)
Kiltartan is a rural barony—an area similar to a county—in western Ireland. In this poem, though, it functions as a symbol of the Irish people, and specifically of those most oppressed by British rule. The speaker identifies not with the British army, on whose behalf he will give his life, but with the people of Kiltartan. This is despite the fact that his countrymen will not benefit at all from the war or from his sacrifice: the people of Kiltartan, like the people of Ireland as a whole, are expected to sacrifice their autonomy and lives while getting nothing in return. Moreover, the speaker emphasizes that he identifies with "Kiltartan's poor." Ireland's oppression is linked to the brutality of the class system, with the poorest suffering doubly under British rule.
Public Men and Cheering Crowds (Symbol)
The speaker lists a series of various forces pressuring him and others to go to war, potentially sacrificing their lives. He first lists the direct pressure of the law, and then, more abstractly, the pressure of duty and obligation. Next, he lists these items: first "public men," meaning celebrities or public figures, and then "cheering crowds." These two items symbolize the nebulous forces of nationalism and propaganda. Public men—people with influence—exert that influence to make young men like the speaker put their lives at risk. Even more darkly, cheering crowds, composed of common people like the speaker, are driven by patriotic feeling to actually celebrate the endangerment and loss of their own members. Taken together, these symbols are a reminder of the inescapability of British rule in Ireland: it exists not only in legal and institutional forms, but also in emotional, affective ones.
