Young Man's Song

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



'She will change,' I cried.
'Into a withered crone.'
The heart in my side,
That so still had lain,
In noble rage replied
And beat upon the bone:

'Uplift those eyes and throw
Those glances unafraid:
She would as bravely show
Did all the fabric fade;
No withered crone I saw
Before the world was made.'

Abashed by that report,
For the heart cannot lie,
I knelt in the dirt.
And all shall bend the knee
To my offended heart
Until it pardon me.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 23, 2023

25 sec read
374

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAXAB CDCDXD XXXEXE
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 431
Words 89
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6

William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. more…

All William Butler Yeats poems | William Butler Yeats Books

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