Analysis of The Collar-Bone Of A Hare

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



WOULD I could cast a sad on the water
Where many a king has gone
And many a king's daughter,
And alight at the comely trees and the lawn,
The playing upon pipes and the dancing,
And learn that the best thing is
To change my loves while dancing
And pay but a kiss for a kiss.
I would find by the edge of that water
The collar-bone of a hare
Worn thin by the lapping of water,
And pierce it through with a gimlet, and stare
At the old bitter world where they marry in churches,
And laugh over the untroubled water
At all who marry in churches,
Through the white thin bone of a hare.


Scheme ABABCDCEAFAFGAGF
Poetic Form
Metre 1111011010 1100111 0100110 00110101001 0100110010 0110111 1111110 01101101 1111011110 0101101 111010110 011110101 1011011110010 0110001010 11110010 10111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 573
Words 119
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 453
Words per stanza (avg) 117
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 29, 2023

36 sec read
99

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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