Analysis of Are You Content?

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



I CALL on those that call me son,
Grandson, or great-grandson,
On uncles, aunts, great-uncles or great-aunts,
To judge what I have done.
Have I, that put it into words,
Spoilt what old loins have sent?
Eyes spiritualised by death can judge,
I cannot, but I am not content.
He that in Sligo at Drumcliff
Set up the old stone Cross,
That red-headed rector in County Down,
A good man on a horse,
Sandymount Corbets, that notable man
Old William pollexfen,
The smuggler Middleton, Butlers far back,
Half legendary men.
Infirm and aged I might stay
In some good company,
I who have always hated work,
Smiling at the sea,
Or demonstrate in my own life
What Robert Browning meant
By an old hunter talking with Gods;
But I am not content.


Scheme AABACDEDFGHIJAKLMNONFDPD
Poetic Form
Metre 11111111 1111 1101110111 111111 11111011 111111 111111 110111110 110111 110111 1110100101 011101 1111001 1101 0101001011 11001 0101111 011100 1111101 10101 1100111 110101 111101011 111110
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 715
Words 134
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 24
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 569
Words per stanza (avg) 132
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 14, 2023

40 sec read
154

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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