Analysis of Chosen

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



The lot of love is chosen.  I learnt that much
Struggling for an image on the track
Of the whirling Zodiac.
Scarce did he my body touch,
Scarce sank he from the west
Or found a subtetranean rest
On the maternal midnight of my breast
Before I had marked him on his northern way,
And seemed to stand although in bed I lay.
I struggled with the horror of daybreak,
I chose it for my lot! If questioned on
My utmost pleasure with a man
By some new-married bride, I take
That stillness for a theme
Where his heart my heart did seem
And both adrift on the miraculous stream
Where -- wrote a learned astrologer --
The Zodiac is changed into a sphere.


Scheme ABBACCCDDEFGEHHHIJ
Poetic Form
Metre 01111101111 1001110101 101010 1111101 111101 11011 100101111 01111111101 011110111 110101011 1111111101 1110101 11110111 110101 1111111 01011001001 11010100 010110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 634
Words 126
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 18
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 505
Words per stanza (avg) 125
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
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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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