Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

No Second Troy

No Second Troy

WHY should I blame her that she filled my days
With misery, or that she would of late
Have taught to ignorant men most violent way…

569
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

Oil And Blood

Oil And Blood

IN tombs of gold and lapis lazuli
Bodies of holy men and women exude
Miraculous oil, odour of violet.
But under heavy loads…

300
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

News For The Delphic Oracle

News For The Delphic Oracle

THERE all the golden codgers lay,
There the silver dew,
And the great water sighed for love,
And the wind sig…

421
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

Narrative And Dramatic The Wanderings Of Oisin

Narrative And Dramatic The Wanderings Of Oisin

BOOK I

S. Patrick. You who are bent, and bald, and blind,
With a heavy heart and a wanderi…

363
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

Michael Robartes and the Dancer

Michael Robartes and the Dancer

He. Opinion is not worth a rush;
In this altar-piece the knight,
Who grips his long spear so to push
That…

380
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

Memory

Memory


ONE had a lovely face,
And two or three had charm,
But charm and face were in vain
Because the mountain grass
Cann…

291
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

Meditations In Time Of Civil War

Meditations In Time Of Civil War

I
Ancestral Houses
SURELY among a rich man s flowering lawns,
Amid the rustle of his planted hills,

413
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

Man And The Echo

Man And The Echo

Man. In a cleft that's christened Alt
Under broken stone I halt
At the bottom of a pit
That broad noon has never lit,

398
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

Love's Loneliness

Love's Loneliness

Old fathers, great-grandfathers,
Rise as kindred should.
If ever lover's loneliness
Came where you stood,
Pray …

291
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

Mad As The Mist And Snow

Mad As The Mist And Snow

Bolt and bar the shutter,
For the foul winds blow:
Our minds are at their best this night,
And I seem to know

407
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

Long-Legged Fly

Long-Legged Fly

THAT civilisation may not sink,
Its great battle lost,
Quiet the dog, tether the pony
To a distant post;
Our mast…

359
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

Leda And The Swan

Leda And The Swan

A SUDDEN blow: the great wings beating still
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught i…

521
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

King And No King

King And No King

WOULD it were anything but merely voice!'
The No King cried who after that was King,
Because he had not heard of anything

471
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

Introductory Lines (The Shadowy Waters)

Introductory Lines (The Shadowy Waters)

I walked among the seven woods of Coole:
Shan-walla, where a willow-hordered pond
Gathers the wild duck f…

386
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

In The Seven Woods

In The Seven Woods

I HAVE heard the pigeons of the Seven Woods
Make their faint thunder, and the garden bees
Hum in the lime-tree flowers; and pu…

366
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

In Memory of Major Robert Gregory

In Memory of Major Robert Gregory

Now that we're almost settled in our house
I'll name the friends that cannot sup with us
Beside a fire of turf …

451
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

I Am Of Ireland

I Am Of Ireland

'I am of Ireland,
And the Holy Land of Ireland,
And time runs on,' cried she.
'Come out of charity,
Come dance wi…

389
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

In Memory Of Alfred Pollexfen

In Memory Of Alfred Pollexfen

FIVE-AND-TWENTY years have gone
Since old William pollexfen
Laid his strong bones down in death
By his wife…

452
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

His Phoenix

His Phoenix

THERE is a queen in China, or maybe it's in Spain,
And birthdays and holidays such praises can be heard
Of her unblemished lineaments…

436
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

His Confidence

His Confidence

Undying love to buy
I wrote upon
The corners of this eye
All wrongs done.
What payment were enough
For und…

290
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

Her Triumph

Her Triumph

I did the dragon's will until you came
Because I had fancied love a casual
Improvisation, or a settled game
That followed if …

298
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

High Talk

High Talk

PROCESSIONS that lack high stilts have nothing that catches the eye.
What if my great-granddad had a pair that were twenty foot high,
A…

400
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

He Wishes His Beloved Were Dead

He Wishes His Beloved Were Dead

WERE you but lying cold and dead,
And lights were paling out of the West,
You would come hither, and bend your he…

465
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

Her Dream

Her Dream

I dreamed as in my bed I lay,
All night's fathomless wisdom come,
That I had shorn my locks away
And laid them on Love's letter…

256