Analysis of Lullaby

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



Beloved, may your sleep be sound
That have found it where you fed.
What were all the world's alarms
To mighty paris when he found
Sleep upon a golden bed
That first dawn in Helen's arms?

Sleep, beloved, such a sleep
As did that wild Tristram know
When, the potion's work being done,
Roe could run or doe could leap
Under oak and beechen bough,
Roe could leap or doe could run;

Such a sleep and sound as fell
Upon Eurotas' grassy bank
When the holy bird, that there
Accomplished his predestined will,
From the limbs of Leda sank
But not from her protecting care.


Scheme ABCABC DXEDXE XFGXFG
Poetic Form
Metre 0111111 1111111 1010101 11010111 1010101 1110101 101101 1111101 1011101 1111111 101011 1111111 1010111 011101 1010111 0101101 1011101 11100101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 552
Words 107
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 147
Words per stanza (avg) 35
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 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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