Analysis of When Helen Lived

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



WE have cried in our despair
That men desert,
For some trivial affair
Or noisy, insolent sport,
Beauty that we have won
From bitterest hours;
Yet we, had we walked within
Those topless towers
Where Helen waked with her boy,
Had given but as the rest
Of the men and women of Troy,
A word and a jest.


Scheme ABACDEFEGHGH
Poetic Form
Metre 11101001 1110 1110001 1101001 101111 110010 1111101 11010 1101101 1101101 10101011 01001
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 295
Words 60
Sentences 2
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 19
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 233
Words per stanza (avg) 58
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 13, 2023

18 sec read
122

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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