Analysis of An Acre Of Grass

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



PICTURE and book remain,
An acre of green grass
For air and exercise,
Now strength of body goes;
Midnight, an old house
Where nothing stirs but a mouse.

My temptation is quiet.
Here at life's end
Neither loose imagination,
Nor the mill of the mind
Consuming its rag and bonc,
Can make the truth known.

Grant me an old man's frenzy,
Myself must I remake
Till I am Timon and Lear
Or that William Blake
Who beat upon the wall
Till Truth obeyed his call;

A mind Michael Angelo knew
That can pierce the clouds,
Or inspired by frenzy
Shake the dead in their shrouds;
Forgotten else by mankind,
An old man's eagle mind.


Scheme XXXXAA XXXBCX DCXCEE XFDFBB
Poetic Form
Metre 100101 110111 11010 111101 1111 1101101 1010110 1111 1010010 101101 0101101 11011 1111110 11111 1111001 11101 110101 110111 0110101 11101 1010110 101011 0101111 111101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 597
Words 116
Sentences 5
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 20
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 120
Words per stanza (avg) 29
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

35 sec read
194

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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