Analysis of A Last Confession

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



What lively lad most pleasured me
Of all that with me lay?
I answer that I gave my soul
And loved in misery,
But had great pleasure with a lad
That I loved bodily.

Flinging from his arms I laughed
To think his passion such
He fancied that I gave a soul
Did but our bodies touch,
And laughed upon his breast to think
Beast gave beast as much.

I gave what other women gave
That stepped out of their clothes.
But when this soul, its body off,
Naked to naked goes,
He it has found shall find therein
What none other knows,

And give his own and take his own
And rule in his own right;
And though it loved in misery
Close and cling so tight,
There's not a bird of day that dare
Extinguish that delight.


Scheme AXBAXA XCBCXC XXXDXD XEAEXE
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111 111111 11011111 010100 11110101 111100 1011111 111101 11011101 1110101 01011111 11111 11110101 111111 11111101 101101 11111101 11101 01110111 010111 01110100 10111 11011111 010101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 681
Words 141
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 136
Words per stanza (avg) 35
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 08, 2023

42 sec read
233

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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