The Scholars

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



BALD heads forgetful of their sins,
Old, learned, respectable bald heads
Edit and annotate the lines
That young men, tossing on their beds,
Rhymed out in love's despair
To flatter beauty's ignorant ear.
All shuffle there; all cough in ink;
All wear the carpet with their shoes;
All think what other people think;
All know the man their neighbour knows.
Lord, what would they say
Did their Catullus walk that way?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 29, 2023

22 sec read
464

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCBDEFGFHII
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 409
Words 73
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12

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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