Analysis of The Pilgrim
William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)
I FASTED for some forty days on bread and buttermilk,
For passing round the bottle with girls in rags or silk,
In country shawl or Paris cloak, had put my wits astray,
And what's the good of women, for all that they can say
Is fol de rol de rolly O.
Round Lough Derg's holy island I went upon the stones,
I prayed at all the Stations upon my matrow-bones,
And there I found an old man, and though, I prayed all day
And that old man beside me, nothing would he say
But fol de rol de rolly O.
All know that all the dead in the world about that place are stuck,
And that should mother seek her son she'd have but little luck
Because the fires of purgatory have ate their shapes away;
I swear to God I questioned them, and all they had to say
Was fol de rol de rolly O.
A great black ragged bird appeared when I was in the boat;
Some twenty feet from tip to tip had it stretched rightly out,
With flopping and with flapping it made a great display,
But I never stopped to question, what could the boatman say
But fol de rol de rolly O.
Now I am in the public-house and lean upon the wall,
So come in rags or come in silk, in cloak or country shawl,
And come with learned lovers or with what men you may,
For I can put the whole lot down, and all I have to say
Is fol de rol de rolly O.
Scheme | aabbC ddbbC eebbcxxbbCffbbC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110111010 1101010110111 01011101111101 0101110111111 11111101 1111010110101 111101001111 0111111011111 011101110111 11111101 111101001011111 01110101111101 010101100111101 11111101011111 11111101 01110101111001 11011111111101 1100110110101 11101110110101 11111101 11100101010101 11011101011101 011110111111 11110111011111 11111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,265 |
Words | 266 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 15 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 39 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 329 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 88 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 06, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 110 Views
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