Analysis of The Cold Heaven

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



SUDDENLY I saw the cold and rook-delighting heaven
That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,
And thereupon imagination and heart were driven
So wild that every casual thought of that and this
Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season
With the hot blood of youth, of love crossed long ago;
And I took all thc blame out of all sense and reason,
Until I cried and trembled and rocked to and fro,
Riddled with light.  Ah! when the ghost begins to quicken,
Confusion of the death-bed over, is it sent
Out naked on the roads, as the books say, and stricken
By the injustice of the skies for punishment?


Scheme ABACADADAEAF
Poetic Form
Metre 10011010101010 111111011011 001001001010 11110010011101 100111001111110 101111111101 0111111111010 011101001101 1011110101110 010101110111 1101011011010 100101011100
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 630
Words 120
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 42
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 499
Words per stanza (avg) 119
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
171

William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. more…

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