What is this poem about?
A modern day fighter pilot is about to crash.
A parachutist from World War Two prepares to jump from a plane.
A World War One pilot weighs up his reasons for fighting the enemy.
In terms of context, which of the following statements is true?
Yeats lived during a period of great change in his native country of Ireland as it fought to achieve full independence from Britain.
Yeats was a fiercely patriotic Englishman. He was keen to fight on Britain’s behalf during World War One.
Yeats himself is the Irish airman. He flew a plane during World War One.
The poem is a dramatic monologue. What does that mean?
It is meant to be read loudly to one person.
The speaker addresses the reader directly. A dramatic monologue usually involves a fictional speaker who may not necessarily speak the views of the poet.
It contains frightening and thrilling passages.
The poem contains four quatrains. What is a quatrain?
A quatrain is a group of four lines in a poem that have a rhyming scheme.
A quatrain is a word beginning with the letter ‘q’.
A quatrain is a sentence containing four words.
The speaker’s tone could be described as:
Detached
Cheerful
Angry
Why did some Irishmen struggle with the concept of fighting for Britain in World War One?
They were all pacifists and did not believe in war.
Britain was the nation that many Irish people wanted to be independent from.
Ireland and Germany – Britain’s enemy in World War One - had a special alliance.
How does the airman feel about flight?
He loves it.
He is terrified of flying.
He has no strong feelings either way.