Analysis of The Three Hermits
William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)
THREE old hermits took the air
By a cold and desolate sea,
First was muttering a prayer,
Second rummaged for a flea;
On a windy stone, the third,
Giddy with his hundredth year,
Sang unnoticed like a bird:
'Though the Door of Death is near
And what waits behind the door,
Three times in a single day
I, though upright on the shore,
Fall asleep when I should pray.'
So the first, but now the second:
'We're but given what we have eamed
When all thoughts and deeds are reckoned,
So it's plain to be discerned
That the shades of holy men
Who have failed, being weak of will,
Pass the Door of Birth again,
And are plagued by crowds, until
They've the passion to escape.'
Moaned the other, 'They are thrown
Into some most fearful shape.'
But the second mocked his moan:
'They are not changed to anything,
Having loved God once, but maybe
To a poet or a king
Or a witty lovely lady.'
While he'd rummaged rags and hair,
Caught and cracked his flea, the third,
Giddy with his hundredth year,
Sang unnoticed like a bird.
Scheme | ababcDCdefefgcghijijklklmbmbacDC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110101 10101001 1110001 1010101 1010101 1011101 1010101 1011111 0110101 1100101 1101101 1011111 10111010 11101111 11101110 1111101 1011101 11110111 1011101 0111101 1010101 1010111 0111101 1010111 1111110 10111110 1010101 10101010 1110101 1011101 1011101 1010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 987 |
Words | 195 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 32 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 780 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 189 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 06, 2023
- 58 sec read
- 88 Views
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