Why Should Not Old Men Be Mad?

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



WHY should not old men be mad?
Some have known a likely lad
That had a sound fly-fisher's wrist
Turn to a drunken journalist;
A girl that knew all Dante once
Live to bear children to a dunce;
A Helen of social welfare dream,
Climb on a wagonette to scream.
Some think it a matter of course that chance
Should starve good men and bad advance,
That if their neighbours figured plain,
As though upon a lighted screen,
No single story would they find
Of an unbroken happy mind,
A finish worthy of the start.
Young men know nothing of this sort,
Observant old men know it well;
And when they know what old books tell
And that no better can be had,
Know why an old man should be mad.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 14, 2023

40 sec read
358

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABCDDEEFFGHIIJKLLAA
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 666
Words 133
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 20

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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