Analysis of The Dawn

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



I WOULD be ignorant as the dawn
That has looked down
On that old queen measuring a town
With the pin of a brooch,
Or on the withered men that saw
From their pedantic Babylon
The careless planets in their courses,
The stars fade out where the moon comes.
And took their tablets and did sums;
I would be ignorant as the dawn
That merely stood, rocking the glittering coach
Above the cloudy shoulders of the horses;
I would be -- for no knowledge is worth a straw --
Ignorant and wanton as the dawn.


Scheme AbbcdefggAhfda
Poetic Form
Metre 111100101 1111 111110001 101101 11010111 1101010 010100110 01111011 01110011 111100101 11011001001 01010101010 11111101101 100010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 491
Words 97
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 391
Words per stanza (avg) 95
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 13, 2023

29 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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