Analysis of The Ballad Of Moll Magee

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



COME round me, little childer;
There, don't fling stones at me
Because I mutter as I go;
But pity Moll Magee.
My man was a poor fisher
With shore lines in the say;
My work was saltin' herrings
The whole of the long day.
And sometimes from the Saltin' shed
I scarce could drag my feet,
Under the blessed moonlight,
Along thc pebbly street.
I'd always been but weakly,
And my baby was just born;
A neighbour minded her by day,
I minded her till morn.
I lay upon my baby;
Ye little childer dear,
I looked on my cold baby
When the morn grew frosty and clear.
A weary woman sleeps so hard!
My man grew red and pale,
And gave me money, and bade me go
To my own place, Kinsale.
He drove me out and shut the door.
And gave his curse to me;
I went away in silence,
No neighbour could I see.
The windows and the doors were shut,
One star shone faint and green,
The little straws were turnin round
Across the bare boreen.
I went away in silence:
Beyond old Martin's byre
I saw a kindly neighbour
Blowin' her mornin' fire.
She drew from me my story --
My money's all used up,
And still, with pityin', scornin' eye,
She gives me bite and sup.
She says my man will surely come
And fetch me home agin;
But always, as I'm movin' round,
Without doors or within,
Pilin' the wood or pilin' the turf,
Or goin' to the well,
I'm thinkin' of my baby
And keenin' to mysel'.
And Sometimes I am sure she knows
When, openin' wide His door,
God lights the stats, His candles,
And looks upon the poor.
So now, ye little childer,
Ye won't fling stones at me;
But gather with your shinin' looks
And pity Moll Magee.


Scheme abcbadedfghgbidibabajkckabLbmnoiLaaaapqprnostubkvawaabxb
Poetic Form
Metre 111101 111111 01110111 110101 1110110 111001 111110 011011 0011011 111111 10011 01111 111110 0110111 0110011 110011 1101110 11011 1111110 10111001 01010111 111101 011100111 11111 11110101 011111 1101010 11111 01000101 111101 0101011 01011 1101010 011101 110101 10110 1111110 110111 011111 111101 11111101 011101 111111 011101 1011101 11101 1101110 0111 00111111 11111 1101110 010101 111101 111111 1101111 010101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,537
Words 311
Sentences 16
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 56
Lines Amount 56
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 1,200
Words per stanza (avg) 309
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

1:35 min read
263

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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