The Fascination Of What's Difficult

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



THE fascination of what's difficult
Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent
Spontaneous joy and natural content
Out of my heart.  There's something ails our colt
That must, as if it had not holy blood
Nor on Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud,
Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and jolt
As though it dragged road-metal.  My curse on plays
That have to be set up in fifty ways,
On the day's war with every knave and dolt,
Theatre business, management of men.
I swear before the dawn comes round again
I'll find the stable and pull out the bolt.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
95

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBCDECFFAGGC
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 546
Words 105
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 13

William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. more…

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