Responsibilities

The Responsibilities poems signify a transition turning point for Yeats from the dream world of the Celtic Twilight to the harsh realities of the modern day. He sums it up in the poem "September 1913" written about the worker's strike in Dublin: "Romantic Ireland's dead and gone". Those realities included the attacks on Maude Gonne and himself by George Moore; The Hugh Lane controversy; the workers’ strike of 1913 and his support of the working man and James Connolly; Parnell; and the fuss over The Playboy of the Western World. . The poems are political and personal. Responsibilities begins with Yeats’ obscure and anonymous epigraph attributed to “an old play”: “In dreams begins responsibility. ” His next epigraph is from Confucius and refers to the Prince of Chang, the founder of the Second Dynasty, perhaps signifying a new dynasty for Yeats himself. These are announcements of a new direction for Yeats. His introductory matter continues with a poems referring to the Butler family, a veiled response to the criticisms of George Moore. The collection ends with a poem referring to with George Moore as a post passing dogs defile.