The speaker is an Irish pilot fighting in World War I; although he is never named, the poem was written as a eulogy for a family friend: Major Robert Gregory, the son of Yeats’ close friend, the folklorist and dramatist Lady Gregory. Within the poem, the speaker is characterized not by social or political relationships but by his relationship to his homeland. Despite his strong sense of identity, he feels no patriotism or sense of duty to his place in the war; instead, he takes what momentary pleasure and sense of adventure he can before giving his life to an empty cause.