by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)
Sixteen dead men
Language: English
O but we talked at large before The sixteen men were shot, But who can talk of give and take, What should be and what not? While those dead men are loitering there To stir the boiling pot. You say that we should still the land Till Germany's overcome; But who is there to argue that Now Pearse is deaf and dumb? And is their logic to outweigh MacDonagh's bony thumb? How could you dream they'd listen That have an ear alone For those new comrades they have found Lord Edward and Wolfe Tone, Or meddle with our give and take That converse bone to bone.
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "Sixteen dead men" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Joseph Eidson , "Sixteen dead men", 2013 [ soprano (or tenor) and piano ], from Amhráin as an Linn Dubh. Songs From the Black Pool , no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Francis George Scott (1880 - 1958), "Sixteen dead men", 1933 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2014-01-10
Line count: 18
Word count: 106