Analysis of His Dream

William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)



I swayed upon the gaudy stem
The butt-end of a steering-oar,
And saw wherever I could turn
A crowd upon a shore.

And though I would have hushed the crowd,
There was no mother's son but said,
"What is the figure in a shroud
Upon a gaudy bed?'

And after running at the brim
Cried out upon that thing beneath
 - It had such dignity of limb -
By the sweet name of Death.

Though I'd my finger on my lip,
What could I but take up the song?
And running crowd and gaudy ship
Cried out the whole night long,

Crying amid the glittering sea,
Naming it with ecstatic breath,
Because it had such dignity,
By the sweet name of Death.


Scheme xaxa bcbc dxdE fgfg hehE
Poetic Form Quatrain  (80%)
Etheree  (30%)
Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 11010101 01110101 01010111 010101 01111101 11110111 11010001 010101 01010101 11011101 11110011 101111 11110111 11111101 01010101 110111 100101001 10110101 01111100 101111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 608
Words 125
Sentences 6
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 95
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
129

William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. more…

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