Analysis of The Sad Shepherd
William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)
THERE was a man whom Sorrow named his Friend,
And he, of his high comrade Sorrow dreaming,
Went walking with slow steps along the gleaming
And humming Sands, where windy surges wend:
And he called loudly to the stars to bend
From their pale thrones and comfort him, but they
Among themselves laugh on and sing alway:
And then the man whom Sorrow named his friend
Cried out, Dim sea, hear my most piteous story.!
The sea Swept on and cried her old cry still,
Rolling along in dreams from hill to hill.
He fled the persecution of her glory
And, in a far-off, gentle valley stopping,
Cried all his story to the dewdrops glistening.
But naught they heard, for they are always listening,
The dewdrops, for the sound of their own dropping.
And then the man whom Sorrow named his friend
Sought once again the shore, and found a shell,
And thought, I will my heavy story tell
Till my own words, re-echoing, shall send
Their sadness through a hollow, pearly heart;
And my own talc again for me shall sing,
And my own whispering words be comforting,
And lo! my ancient burden may depart.
Then he sang softly nigh the pearly rim;
But the sad dweller by the sea-ways lone
Changed all he sang to inarticulate moan
Among her wildering whirls, forgetting him.
Scheme | abbaacdAeffebbbbAggahbbhijji |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110111 0111111010 11011101010 0101110101 0111010111 1111010111 010111011 0101110111 1111111110 0111010111 1001011111 1100101010 00011101010 11110101100 11111111100 0110111110 0101110111 1101010101 0111110101 1111110011 1101010101 0111011111 01110011100 0111010101 1111010101 1011010111 11111001001 010110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,225 |
Words | 227 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 28 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 982 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 225 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:08 min read
- 119 Views
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