Analysis of The Gyres
William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)
THE GYRES! the gyres! Old Rocky Face, look forth;
Things thought too long can be no longer thought,
For beauty dies of beauty, worth of worth,
And ancient lineaments are blotted out.
Irrational streams of blood are staining earth;
Empedocles has thrown all things about;
Hector is dead and there's a light in Troy;
We that look on but laugh in tragic joy.
What matter though numb nightmare ride on top,
And blood and mire the sensitive body stain?
What matter? Heave no sigh, let no tear drop,
A-greater, a more gracious time has gone;
For painted forms or boxes of make-up
In ancient tombs I sighed, but not again;
What matter? Out of cavern comes a voice,
And all it knows is that one word 'Rejoice!'
Conduct and work grow coarse, and coarse the soul,
What matter? Those that Rocky Face holds dear,
Lovers of horses and of women, shall,
From marble of a broken sepulchre,
Or dark betwixt the polecat and the owl,
Or any rich, dark nothing disinter
The workman, noble and saint, and all things run
On that unfashionable gyre again.
Scheme | ABCDCDEEFGFHIJKKLMNEOEPJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101110111 1111111101 1101110111 01011101 01001111101 1111101 1011010101 1111110101 110111111 01010100101 1101111111 0100110111 1101110111 0101111101 1101110101 0111111101 0101110101 1101110111 1011001101 11010101 110101001 11011101 01010010111 1101000101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,017 |
Words | 188 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 24 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 807 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 185 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 165 Views
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