Speaker
The speaker is an Irish person at the start of the twentieth century, grieving not only the loss of Irish independence fighters from throughout history, but also the loss of something more intangible. He argues that the idealism, self-sacrifice, and hope that propelled men like O'Leary and Fitzgerald have disappeared. Now, Ireland's people are content to worry about nothing but saving money and praying: they have, he says, become shortsighted and obsessed with the safe and mundane. This speaker appears to be caught between sadness and anger. He feels hopeless and mournful, lamenting what has been lost, but he is also contemptuous and scornful of those who care more about money and religion than they do about Ireland's fate.
O'Leary
John O'Leary was a real figure, and a friend of Yeats. An advocate for Ireland's independence from Brith rule, O'Leary was a deputy of the Irish Republican Brotherhood during the mid-nineteenth century. After being accused of treason, he was sentenced to twenty years in prison, but was permitted to wait out part of his twenty-year sentence in exile outside of Ireland. When he returned to Dublin in 1885, O'Leary befriended Yeats, and continued to advocate for Irish national causes. In the context of this poem, however, O'Leary is almost as much a symbol as he is a specific historical individual. He stands in for the dream of Romantic Ireland and for the self-sacrifice of Ireland's fight for independence.
The Irish Populace
The speaker characterizes the modern-day people of Ireland as inward-looking, risk-averse, and tedious. He compares them unfavorably with the Irish freedom fighters of the past, characterizing these heroes as men of action and passion. In contrast, he suggests, the Irish people of the early twentieth century are interested in only two things: religion (or prayer), and money. In fact, the speaker argues, Ireland's people have become so shortsighted and cynical that they would react scornfully if they ever actually met the patriotic heroes of the past. This characterization is, of course, filtered entirely through the point of view of the speaker. As readers, we never directly encounter these apparently disconnected citizens. We learn of them only through the speaker's anger and disappointment.
