Analysis of A Statesman's Holiday
William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)
I lived among great houses,
Riches drove out rank,
Base drove out the better blood,
And mind and body shrank.
No Oscar ruled the table,
But I'd a troop of friends
That knowing better talk had gone
Talked of odds and ends.
Some knew what ailed the world
But never said a thing,
So I have picked a better trade
And night and morning sing:
Tall dames go walking in grass-green Avalon.
Am I a great Lord Chancellor
That slept upon the Sack?
Commanding officer that tore
The khaki from his back?
Or am I de Valera,
Or the King of Greece,
Or the man that made the motors?
Ach, call me what you please!
Here's a Montenegrin lute,
And its old sole string
Makes me sweet music
And I delight to sing:
Tall dames go walking in grass-green Avalon.
With boys and girls about him.
With any sort of clothes,
With a hat out of fashion,
With Old patched shoes,
With a ragged bandit cloak,
With an eye like a hawk,
With a stiff straight back,
With a strutting turkey walk.
With a bag full of pennies,
With a monkey on a chain,
With a great cock's feather,
With an old foul tune.
Tall dames go walking in grass-green Avalon.
Scheme | xaxaxbxbxcxcD efxfxxxgxcxcD xxxxxhfhgxexD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110 10111 1110101 010101 1101010 110111 11010111 11101 111101 110101 11110101 010101 1111001110 11011100 110101 01010011 010111 1111010 10111 10111010 111111 1011 01111 11110 010111 1111001110 1101011 110111 1011110 1111 1010101 111101 10111 1010101 1011110 1010101 101110 11111 1111001110 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,075 |
Words | 213 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 13, 13, 13 |
Lines Amount | 39 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 286 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 70 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 141 Views
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"A Statesman's Holiday" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39268/a-statesman%27s-holiday>.
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