The Rose Tree
The Rose Tree - context Summary
Dialogues Over 1916 Sacrifice
The poem stages a brief dialogue between Patrick Pearse and James Connolly about Ireland’s future after the Easter Rising. They argue whether politics or care can revive the national "Rose Tree," ending with Connolly’s bleak insistence that only their "red blood" will nourish it. Yeats compresses the debate over sacrifice and nationhood into an elegiac parable linking martyrdom to political renewal.
Read Complete Analyses'O words are lightly spoken,' Said Pearse to Connolly, 'Maybe a breath of politic words Has withered our Rose Tree; Or maybe but a wind that blows Across the bitter sea.' 'It needs to be but watered,' James Connolly replied, 'To make the green come out again And spread on every side, And shake the blossom from the bud To be the garden's pride.' 'But where can we draw water,' Said Pearse to Connolly, 'When all the wells are parched away? O plain as plain can be There's nothing but our own red blood Can make a right Rose Tree.'
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