Analysis of Under The Round Tower
William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)
'ALTHOUGH I'd lie lapped up in linen
A deal I'd sweat and little earn
If I should live as live the neighbours,'
Cried the beggar, Billy Byrne;
'Stretch bones till the daylight come
On great-grandfather's battered tomb.'
Upon a grey old battered tombstone
In Glendalough beside the stream
Where the O'Byrnes and Byrnes are buried,
He stretched his bones and fell in a dream
Of sun and moon that a good hour
Bellowed and pranced in the round tower;
Of golden king and Silver lady,
Bellowing up and bellowing round,
Till toes mastered a sweet measure,
Mouth mastered a sweet sound,
Prancing round and prancing up
Until they pranced upon the top.
That golden king and that wild lady
Sang till stars began to fade,
Hands gripped in hands, toes close together,
Hair spread on the wind they made;
That lady and that golden king
Could like a brace of blackbirds sing.
'It's certain that my luck is broken,'
That rambling jailbird Billy said;
'Before nightfall I'll pick a pocket
And snug it in a feather bed.
I cannot find the peace of home
On great-grandfather's battered tomb.'
Scheme | abcbdEfghgiijkiklmjninooapqprE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (37%) |
Metre | 11111010 01110101 11111101 1010101 111011 1110101 01011101 010101 101101110 111101001 110110110 100100110 110101010 100101001 11100110 110011 1010101 01110101 110101110 1110111 110111010 1110111 11001101 11011101 110111110 1101101 01111010 01100101 11010111 1110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,050 |
Words | 194 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 847 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 188 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 15, 2023
- 59 sec read
- 134 Views
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