Wow, the “logic” of the poem (logic seems to be a problematic term in Yeats) clearly legitimizes the rule of aristocracy by virtue of their “gifts that govern men, and after these / To gradual Time’s last gift, a written speech / Wrought of high laughter, loveliness and ease?”. In other words, their appreciation for useless things, possession of art collections, freedom from work of any kind, and aristocratic poise empowers them almost as deities (though still biologically “bred”). Given your reading, I noticed that “Upon a House Shaken by the Land Agitation” could totally work to legitimize English rule of Ireland. Who owns more trivial things, art and huge houses than the queen? Who experiences less of the day-to-day struggle of the lower classes than the royal family? Lady Gregory doesn’t even come close to the queen’s level of aristocratic position or poise. This was kind of alluded to in class actually, when Dr. Doggett was lecturing about poise and he cited Prince William as an example of contrived aristocratic decorum that is designed to look effortless. I looked for something in the poem to stop the logic short, something like heavy Irish symbolism or name dropping, but the more I read the poem the more English it became! It legitimizes the rule of aristocracy over those people of the thatched roofs, an idea that reeks of imperial England. Its strongest symbols, the eagle and the sun, appear on many distinguished English crests and flags but no Irish ones that I have seen. The only thing that I saw that might undermine all this and make it more ironic than sincere is the flaws in the sonnet structure. There are only 12 lines, lacking a final g-g rhyme and leaving the sonnet incomplete. There is also an anapest in line 7, “That comes of the best knit to the best? Although”, which digresses from iambic structure. Perhaps these huge violations in this most distinctly English of poetic forms presents the “poise” of the poem itself to be imperfect and inherently false? This seems unlikely considering Yeats’ attraction to and admiration for aristocracy.