Mad As The Mist And Snow

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



Bolt and bar the shutter,
For the foul winds blow:
Our minds are at their best this night,
And I seem to know
That everything outside us is
Mad as the mist and snow.

Horace there by Homer stands,
Plato stands below,
And here is Tully's open page.
How many years ago
Were you and I unlettered lads
Mad as the mist and snow?

You ask what makes me sigh, old friend,
What makes me shudder so?
I shudder and I sigh to think
That even Cicero
And many-minded Homer were
Mad as the mist and snow.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 22, 2023

30 sec read
253

Quick analysis:

Scheme abxbxB xbxbxB xbxbaB
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 479
Words 99
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6

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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