Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Secret Rose

The Secret Rose

FAR-OFF, most secret, and inviolate Rose,
Enfold me in my hour of hours; where those
Who sought thee in the Holy Sepulchre,
Or in t…

374
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Shadowy Waters

The Shadowy Waters

I walked among the seven woods of Coole:
Shan-walla, where a willow-hordered pond
Gathers the wild duck from the winter dawn;
Sh…

465
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Sad Shepherd

The Sad Shepherd

THERE was a man whom Sorrow named his Friend,
And he, of his high comrade Sorrow dreaming,
Went walking with slow steps along the gleami…

389
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Scholars

The Scholars

BALD heads forgetful of their sins,
Old, learned, respectable bald heads
Edit and annotate the lines
That young men, tossing on their …

398
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Rose Of Battle

The Rose Of Battle

ROSE of all Roses, Rose of all the World!
The tall thought-woven sails, that flap unfurled
Above the tide of hours, trouble the air, <…

463
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Rose Of The World

The Rose Of The World

WHO dreamed that beauty passes like a dream?
For these red lips, with all their mournful pride,
Mournful that no new wonder may bet…

371
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Results Of Thought

The Results Of Thought

ACQUAINTANCE; companion;
One dear brilliant woman;
The best-endowed, the elect,
All by their youth undone,
All, all, b…

332
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Ragged Wood

The Ragged Wood

O HURRY where by water among the trees
The delicate-stepping stag and his lady sigh,
When they have but looked upon their images --

349
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Pilgrim

The Pilgrim

I FASTED for some forty days on bread and buttermilk,
For passing round the bottle with girls in rags or silk,
In country shawl or Paris cloa…

383
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Players Ask For A Blessing On The Psalteries And On Themselves

The Players Ask For A Blessing On The Psalteries And On Themselves

Three Voices [together]. Hurry to bless the hands that play,
The mouths that speak, the note…

367
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The O'Rahilly

The O'Rahilly

SING of the O'Rahilly,
Do not deny his right;
Sing a 'the' before his name;
Allow that he, despite
All those learned historians…

367
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The People

The People

'WHAT have I earned for all that work,' I said,
'For all that I have done at my own charge?
The daily spite of this unmannerly town,
Whe…

461
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Nineteenth Century And After

The Nineteenth Century And After

THOUGH the great song return no more
There's keen delight in what we have:
The rattle of pebbles on the shore
Unde…

325
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Old Men Admiring Themselves In The Water

The Old Men Admiring Themselves In The Water

I HEARD the old, old men say,
'Everything alters,
And one by one we drop away.'
They had hands like cl…

359
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Mother Of God

The Mother Of God

THE threefold terror of love; a fallen flare
Through the hollow of an ear;
Wings beating about the room;
The terror of all terror…

300
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Municipal Gallery Revisited

The Municipal Gallery Revisited

AROUND me the images of thirty years:
An ambush; pilgrims at the water-side;
Casement upon trial, half hidden by the bars…

398
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Meditation Of The Old Fisherman

The Meditation Of The Old Fisherman

YOU waves, though you dance by my feet like children at play,
Though you glow and you glance, though you purr and you dart;…

313
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Man Who Dreamed Of Faeryland

The Man Who Dreamed Of Faeryland

HE stood among a crowd at Dromahair;
His heart hung all upon a silken dress,
And he had known at last some tenderness, <…

375
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Lover's Song

The Lover's Song

BIRD sighs for the air,
Thought for I know not where,
For the womb the seed sighs.
Now sinks the same rest
On mind, on nest,…

278
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Magi

The Magi

NOW as at all times I can see in the mind's eye,
In their stiff, painted clothes, the pale unsatisfied ones
Appear and disappear in the blue dep…

450
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Lover Speaks To The Hearers Of His Songs In Coming Days

The Lover Speaks To The Hearers Of His Songs In Coming Days

O WOMEN, kneeling by your altar-rails long hence,
When songs I wove for my beloved hide the prayer,…

397
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Lover Mourns For The Loss Of Love

The Lover Mourns For The Loss Of Love

PALE brows, still hands and dim hair,
I had a beautiful friend
And dreamed that the old despair
Would end in …

429
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Living Beauty

The Living Beauty

I BADE, because the wick and oil are spent
And frozen are the channels of the blood,
My discontented heart to draw content
From b…

287
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Lamentation Of The Old Pensioner

The Lamentation Of The Old Pensioner

ALTHOUGH I shelter from the rain
Under a broken tree,
My chair was nearest to the fire
In every company

429