Analysis of Faery Song

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



Sung by the people of Faery over Diarmuid and Grania, in their bridal sleep under a Cromlech.

We who are old, old and gay,
O so old!
Thousands of years, thousands of years,
If all were told:

Give to these children, new from the world,
Silence and love;
And the long dew-dropping hours of the night,
And the stars above:

Gie to these children, new from the world,
Rest far from men.
Is anything better, anything better?
Tell us it then:

Us who are old, old and gay,
O so old!
Thousands of years, thousands of years,
If all were told.


Scheme x aBCB dexe dfxf aBCB
Poetic Form
Metre 110101110101011011001 1111101 111 10111011 1101 111101101 1001 00111010101 00101 111101101 1111 110101010 1111 1111101 111 10111011 1101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 524
Words 103
Sentences 7
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 1, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 17
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 81
Words per stanza (avg) 20
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 01, 2023

30 sec read
111

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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