The Great Day
power
oppression
lyric poem
bitter
Hurrah for revolution and more cannon-shot! A beggar upon horseback lashes a beggar on foot. Hurrah for revolution and cannon come again! The beggars have changed places, but the lash goes on.
The Great Day - fact Summary
From the Wild Swans at Coole
Yeats satirically compresses revolution into a few stark lines, showing how uprisings simply reverse social positions without ending oppression. The repeated exclamations and the image of a beggar on horseback lashing a beggar on foot dramatize a cyclical exchange of power where the same brutality persists. The poem reflects Yeats's concern with political and social upheaval influenced by Ireland's early 20th-century climate.
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