Analysis of The Indian Upon God
William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)
I PASSED along the water's edge below the humid trees,
My spirit rocked in evening light, the rushes round my knees,
My spirit rocked in sleep and sighs; and saw the moorfowl pace
All dripping on a grassy slope, and saw them cease to chase
Each other round in circles, and heard the eldest speak:
Who holds the world between His bill and made us strong or weak
Is an undying moorfowl, and He lives beyond the sky.
The rains are from His dripping wing, the moonbeams from His eye.
I passed a little further on and heard a lotus talk:
Who made the world and ruleth it, He hangeth on a stalk,
For I am in His image made, and all this tinkling tide
Is but a sliding drop of rain between His petals wide.
A little way within the gloom a roebuck raised his eyes
Brimful of starlight, and he said: The Stamper of the Skies,
He is a gentle roebuck; for how else, I pray, could He
Conceive a thing so sad and soft, a gentle thing like me?
I passed a little further on and heard a peacock say:
Who made the grass and made the worms and made my feathers gay,
He is a monstrous peacock, and He waveth all the night
His languid tail above us, lit with myriad spots of light.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101010101 11010101010111 1101010101011 11010101011111 1101010010101 11010111011111 1101010110101 0111110101111 11010101010101 110101111101 111011010111001 11010111011101 0101010101111 111011010101 1101011111111 01011101010111 1101010101011 11010101011101 110101011101 110101111100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,151 |
Words | 230 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 20 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 45 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 904 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 229 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 13, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 70 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Indian Upon God" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39492/the-indian-upon-god>.
Discuss this William Butler Yeats poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In