To A Young Beauty

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



DEAR fellow-artist, why so free
With every sort of company,
With every Jack and Jill?
Choose your companions from the best;
Who draws a bucket with the rest
Soon topples down the hill.
You may, that mirror for a school,
Be passionate, not bountiful
As common beauties may,
Who were not born to keep in trim
With old Ezekiel's cherubim
But those of Beauvarlet.
I know what wages beauty gives,
How hard a life her setvant lives,
Yet praise the winters gone:
There is not a fool can call me friend,
And I may dine at journey's end
With Landor and with Donne.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
120

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABCCBDEFGFCHHIJJK
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 546
Words 105
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 18

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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