Analysis of Michael Robartes and the Dancer
William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)
He. Opinion is not worth a rush;
In this altar-piece the knight,
Who grips his long spear so to push
That dragon through the fading light,
Loved the lady; and it's plain
The half-dead dragon was her thought,
That every morning rose again
And dug its claws and shrieked and fought.
Could the impossible come to pass
She would have time to turn her eyes,
Her lover thought, upon the glass
And on the instant would grow wise.
She. You mean they argued.
He. Put it so;
But bear in mind your lover's wage
Is what your looking-glass can show,
And that he will turn green with rage
At all that is not pictured there.
She. May I not put myself to college?
He. Go pluck Athena by the hair;
For what mere book can grant a knowledge
With an impassioned gravity
Appropriate to that beating breast,
That vigorous thigh, that dreaming eye?
And may the devil take the rest.
She. And must no beautiful woman be
Learned like a man?
He. Paul Veronese
And all his sacred company
Imagined bodies all their days
By the lagoon you love so much,
For proud, soft, ceremonious proof
That all must come to sight and touch;
While Michael Angelo's Sistine roof
His 'Morning' and his 'Night' disclose
How sinew that has been pulled tight,
Or it may be loosened in repose,
Can rule by supernatural right
Yet be but sinew.
She. I have heard said
There is great danger in the body.
He. Did God in portioning wine and bread
Give man His thought or His mere body?
She. My wretched dragon is perplexed.
He. I have principles to prove me right.
It follows from this Latin text
That blest souls are not composite,
And that all beautiful women may
Live in uncomposite blessedness,
And lead us to the like -- if they
Will banish every thought, unless
The lineaments that please their view
When the long looking-glass is full,
Even from the foot-sole think it too.
She. They say such different things at school.
Scheme | XAXABCXCDEDE X FGFGH X HXIJXJ IX DIXKLKLMAMAB NI NI O AOXPXPXQXQ X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (22%) |
Metre | 101011101 0110101 11111111 11010101 1010011 01110101 110010101 01110101 100100111 11111101 01010101 01010111 111110 1111 11011101 11110111 01111111 11111101 111111110 111010101 111111010 11010100 010011101 110011101 01010101 1011100101 1101 111 01110100 01010111 10011111 11111 11111101 11010011 11001101 1111111 111110001 11101001 1111 11111 111100010 11101101 111111110 111010101 1111001111 11011101 11111010 011100101 101100 01110111 110100101 011111 10110111 101011111 1111100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,868 |
Words | 345 |
Sentences | 28 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 1, 5, 1, 6, 2, 12, 2, 2, 1, 10, 1 |
Lines Amount | 55 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 122 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 1:44 min read
- 217 Views
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"Michael Robartes and the Dancer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39387/michael-robartes-and-the-dancer>.
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