A Prayer On Going Into My House

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



GOD grant a blessing on this tower and cottage
And on my heirs, if all remain unspoiled,
No table or chair or stool not simple enough
For shepherd lads in Galilee; and grant
That I myself for portions of the year
May handle nothing and set eyes on nothing
But what the great and passionate have used
Throughout so many varying centuries
We take it for the norm; yet should I dream
Sinbad the sailor's brought a painted chest,
Or image, from beyond the Loadstone Mountain,
That dream is a norm; and should some limb of the Devil
Destroy the view by cutting down an ash
That shades the road, or setting up a cottage
Planned in a government office, shorten his life,
Manacle his soul upon the Red Sea bottom.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

40 sec read
149

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGHIJKLMANO
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 698
Words 133
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16

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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