Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Lady's Third Song

The Lady's Third Song

WHEN you and my true lover meet
And he plays tunes between your feet.
Speak no evil of the soul,
Nor think that body is the w…

369
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

433
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Indian To His Love

The Indian To His Love

THE island dreams under the dawn
And great boughs drop tranquillity;
The peahens dance on a smooth lawn,
A parrot sways upon…

369
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Lady's First Song

The Lady's First Song

I TURN round
Like a dumb beast in a show.
Neither know what I am
Nor where I go,
My language beaten
Into one name…

374
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Heart Of The Woman

The Heart Of The Woman

O WHAT to me the little room
That was brimmed up with prayer and rest;
He bade me out into the gloom,
And my breast lies upo…

396
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Hosting Of The Sidhe

The Hosting Of The Sidhe

The host is riding from Knocknarea
And over the grave of Clooth-na-Bare;
Caoilte tossing his burning hair,
And Niamh calli…

410
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Harp Of Aengus

The Harp Of Aengus

Edain came out of Midhir's hill, and lay
Beside young Aengus in his tower of glass,
Where time is drowned in odour-laden winds
A…

448
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Gyres

The Gyres

THE GYRES! the gyres! Old Rocky Face, look forth;
Things thought too long can be no longer thought,
For beauty dies of beauty, worth of worth, …

397
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Great Day

The Great Day

HURRAH for revolution and more cannon-shot!
A beggar upon horseback lashes a beggar on foot.
Hurrah for revolution and cannon come again! <…

308
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Ghost Of Roger Casement

The Ghost Of Roger Casement

O WHAT has made that sudden noise?
What on the threshold stands?
It never crossed the sea because
John Bull and the sea…

431
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Fish

The Fish

ALTHOUGH you hide in the ebb and flow
Of the pale tide when the moon has set,
The people of coming days will know
About the casting out of…

297
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Folly Of Being Comforted

The Folly Of Being Comforted

ONE that is ever kind said yesterday:
'Your well-beloved's hair has threads of grey,
And little shadows come about her eyes;…

410
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Fairy Pendant

The Fairy Pendant

Scene: A circle of Druidic stones

First Fairy: Afar from our lawn and our levee,
O sister of sorrowful gaze!
Where the ro…

410
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Fascination Of What's Difficult

The Fascination Of What's Difficult

THE fascination of what's difficult
Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent
Spontaneous joy and natural content <…

398
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Double Vision Of Michael Robartes

The Double Vision Of Michael Robartes

I
ON the grey rock of Cashel the mind's eye
Has called up the cold spirits that are born
When the old moon is…

410
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Delphic Oracle Upon Plotinus

The Delphic Oracle Upon Plotinus

Behold that great Plotinus swim,
Buffeted by such seas;
Bland Rhadamanthus beckons him,
But the Golden Race looks …

279
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Dedication To A Book Of Stories

The Dedication To A Book Of Stories

SELECTED FROM THE IRISH NOVELISTS

THERE was a green branch hung with many a bell
When her own people ruled this…

402
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Dancer At Cruachan And Cro-Patrick

The Dancer At Cruachan And Cro-Patrick

I, proclaiming that there is
Among birds or beasts or men
One that is perfect or at peace.
Danced on Cruacha…

270
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Coming Of Wisdom With Time

The Coming Of Wisdom With Time

THOUGH leaves are many, the root is one;
Through all the lying days of my youth
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun;…

347
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Crazed Moon

The Crazed Moon

CRAZED through much child-bearing
The moon is staggering in the sky;
Moon-struck by the despairing
Glances of her wandering eye

361
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Cold Heaven

The Cold Heaven

SUDDENLY I saw the cold and rook-delighting heaven
That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,
And thereupon imagination a…

313
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Cloak, The Boat And The Shoes

The Cloak, The Boat And The Shoes

'What do you make so fair and bright?'

'I make the cloak of Sorrow:
O lovely to see in all men's sight
Shal…

382
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Choice

The Choice

The intellect of man is forced to choose
perfection of the life, or of the work,
And if it take the second must refuse
A heavenly mansio…

355
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

The Chambermaid's First Song

The Chambermaid's First Song

HOW came this ranger
Now sunk in rest,
Stranger with strangcr.
On my cold breast?
What's left to Sigh for?

288