Analysis of A Man Young And Old: XI. From Oedipus At Colonus
William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)
Endure what life God gives and ask no longer span;
Cease to remember the delights of youth, travel-wearied aged man;
Delight becomes death-longing if all longing else be vain.
Even from that delight memory treasures so,
Death, despair, division of families, all entanglements of mankind grow,
As that old wandering beggar and these God-hated children know.
In the long echoing street the laughing dancers throng,
The bride is carried to the bridegroom's chamber through torchlight and tumultuous song;
I celebrate the silent kiss that ends short life or long.
Never to have lived is best, ancient writers say;
Never to have drawn the breath of life, never to have looked into the eye of day;
The second best's a gay goodnight and quickly turn away.
Scheme | AAX BBB CCC DDD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011111011101 1101000111101011 01011101110111 101101100101 1010101100101001111 1111001001110101 0011001010101 01110101101101001 1100101111111 101111110101 10111011110111010111 0101011010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 745 |
Words | 127 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 12 |
Letters per line (avg) | 50 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 150 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 38 sec read
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"A Man Young And Old: XI. From Oedipus At Colonus" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39256/a-man-young-and-old%3A-xi.-from-oedipus-at-colonus>.
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