Analysis of The Song Of The Old Mother

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



I RISE in the dawn, and I kneel and blow
Till the seed of the fire flicker and glow;
And then I must scrub and bake and sweep
Till stars are beginning to blink and peep;
And the young lie long and dream in their bed
Of the matching of ribbons for bosom and head,
And their ~y goes over in idleness,
And they sigh if the wind but lift a tress:
While I must work because I am old,
And the seed of the fire gets feeble and cold.


Scheme AABBCCDEFF
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Etheree  (20%)
Metre 1100101101 10110101001 011110101 1110101101 0011101011 101011011001 0111100100 0111011101 111101111 001101011001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 424
Words 92
Sentences 2
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 10
Lines Amount 10
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 327
Words per stanza (avg) 90
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

27 sec read
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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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