Analysis of An Irish Airman Forsees His Death
William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)
I KNOW that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My county is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.
Scheme | ABABCDCEFGFGHIHI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111 1010101 11111111 11111111 110111 110011 11011111 111100101 11110111 11011101 01010101 11110001 11011111 01111111 01110101 01011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 547 |
Words | 107 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 433 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 105 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 32 sec read
- 179 Views
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"An Irish Airman Forsees His Death" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39286/an-irish-airman-forsees-his-death>.
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