Analysis of Under The Moon
William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)
I HAVE no happiness in dreaming of Brycelinde,
Nor Avalon the grass-green hollow, nor Joyous Isle,
Where one found Lancelot crazed and hid him for a while;
Nor Uladh, when Naoise had thrown a sail upon the wind;
Nor lands that seem too dim to be burdens on the heart:
Land-under-Wave, where out of the moon's light and the sun's
Seven old sisters wind the threads of the long-lived ones,
Land-of-the-Tower, where Aengus has thrown the gates apart,
And Wood-of-Wonders, where one kills an ox at dawn,
To find it when night falls laid on a golden bier.
Therein are many queens like Branwen and Guinevere;
And Niamh and Laban and Fand, who could change to an otter or fawn,
And the wood-woman, whose lover was changed to a blue-eyed hawk;
And whether I go in my dreams by woodland, or dun, or shore,
Or on the unpeopled waves with kings to pull at the oar,
I hear the harp-string praise them, or hear their mournful talk.
Because of something told under the famished horn
Of the hunter's moon, that hung between the night and the day,
To dream of women whose beauty was folded in dis may,
Even in an old story, is a burden not to be borne.
Scheme | ABBAACCADEEDFGGFHAIH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110001011 110011101101 111101011101 111111010101 1111111110101 1101111011001 1011010110111 1101011110101 011101111111 111111110101 0111011101 0101001111111011 001101101110111 01011011111111 110111111101 1101111111101 011101100101 10101110101001 11110110110011 100111010101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,125 |
Words | 212 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 20 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 44 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 882 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 210 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 11, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 109 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Under The Moon" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39614/under-the-moon>.
Discuss this William Butler Yeats poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In