Student Question
What literary devices are used in "The Battle of Father Gilligan"?
Quick answer:
"The Battle of Father Gilligan" by Yeats employs several literary devices, including spiral imagery to symbolize the journey of life, time, and change. The poem uses a ballad quatrain form, with eight and six syllable lines that partially rhyme, to convey its narrative. Metaphors such as the "night of stars" represent peaceful death, while allusions highlight divine intervention. The moth imagery signifies the passage of time, reflecting the priest's fatigue and devotion.
There are several literary devices employed in Yeats's poem, but one theme that he often employs is that of the journey of life. This journey is presented in spiral imagery that explores the human condition, focusing on time, change, love, age, and wisdom. "The Ballad of Father Gilligan" describes the journey of Father Gilligan's life which involves his visits to the dying from the point at which "the moth-hour went from the fields/And stars began to peep" to "...the time of sparrow chirp/When the moths come once more." In these lines the spiral imagery connotes time. The metaphorof the moths is a comparison between the Irish moths that appear at the beginning and the end of twenty-four hours. The poor would express time in some manner like this as no one would own a watch.
This poem is written as a traditional Irish ballad that employs the ballad quatrain...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
form: eight syllables in the first and third lines which do not rhyme; then six syllables in the second and fourth lines which do rhyme. Like all ballads, this one tells a story. Father Gilligan is a priest who has been ministering to the dying Irish people during an epidemic; however, he is so overcome with fatigue that he falls asleep while kneeling and praying by his chair. When he awakens it is the next day, and he jumps up fearing that he has failed to bring the Last Rites to one of his parishioners. Hastily and with guilt, he jumps on his horse and races to the man's home, but the man has already died.
"Father! You come again."
The pries realizes that God has sent an angel to minister to the dying man in his place. In gratitude, he kneels and in an allusion, the priest acknowledges God's help:
He who hath made the night of stars
For souls who tire and bleed,
Sent on of His great angels down
To help me in my need.
Finally, the "night of stars" is a metaphor(an unstated comparison) for the peaceful death after one has received the last rites, or Extreme Unction, that cleanses a person's soul.