W.B. Yeats: Trending quotes (page 10)

“Come near; I would, before my time to go,
Sing of old Eire and the ancient ways:
Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days.”

W.B. Yeats

To The Rose Upon The Rood Of Time
The Rose (1893)
Context: Come near, come near, come near — Ah, leave me still
A little space for the rose-breath to fill!
Lest I no more hear common things that crave;
The weak worm hiding down in its small cave,
The field-mouse running by me in the grass,
And heavy mortal hopes that toil and pass;
But seek alone to hear the strange things said
By God to the bright hearts of those long dead,
And learn to chaunt a tongue men do not know.
Come near; I would, before my time to go,
Sing of old Eire and the ancient ways:
Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days.

“I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear the lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.”

W.B. Yeats

The Lake Isle of Innisfree, st. 3
The Rose (1893)

“What matter that no cannon had been turned
Into a ploughshare?”

W.B. Yeats book The Tower

I, st. 3 The Tower (1928), Nineteen Hundred And Nineteen http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1547/ Context: All teeth were drawn, all ancient tricks unlearned, And a great army but a showy thing; What matter that no cannon had been turned Into a ploughshare?

“We are but critics, or but half create,
Timid, entangled, empty and abashed,
Lacking the countenance of our friends.”

W.B. Yeats

Ego Dominus Tuus http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1478/, st. 4 The Wild Swans at Coole (1919) Context: We have lit upon the gentle, sensitive mind And lost the old nonchalance of the hand; Whether we have chosen chisel, pen or brush, We are but critics, or but half create, Timid, entangled, empty and abashed, Lacking the countenance of our friends.

“Speech after long silence; it is right”

W.B. Yeats book The Winding Stair and Other Poems

After Long Silence http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1432/ The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933) Context: Speech after long silence; it is right, All other lovers being estranged or dead, Unfriendly lamplight hid under its shade, The curtains drawn upon unfriendly night, That we descant and yet again descant Upon the supreme theme of Art and Song: Bodily decrepitude is wisdom; young We loved each other and were ignorant.

“All that sternness amid charm,
All that sweetness amid strength?”

W.B. Yeats

Peace http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1564/ The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910) Context: Ah, that Time could touch a form That could show what Homer's age Bred to be a hero's wage. 'Were not all her life but a storm, Would not painters pain a form Of such noble lines,' I said, 'Such a delicate high head, All that sternness amid charm, All that sweetness amid strength? Ah, but peace that comes at length, Came when Time had touched her form.

“The shallowest people on the ridge of the earth.”

W.B. Yeats

Letter to Katharine Tynan (30 August 1888)
Context: I hate journalists. There is nothing in them but tittering jeering emptiness. They have all made what Dante calls the Great Refusal, — that is they have ceased to be self-centered, have given up their individuality.... The shallowest people on the ridge of the earth.

“Why should the imagination of a man
Long past his prime remember things that are
Emblematical of love and war?”

W.B. Yeats book The Winding Stair and Other Poems

I, st. 3 The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933), A Dialogue of Self and Soul http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1397/ Context: My Soul. Why should the imagination of a man Long past his prime remember things that are Emblematical of love and war? Think of ancestral night that can, If but imagination scorn the earth And intellect is wandering To this and that and t'other thing, Deliver from the crime of death and birth.

“Now his wars on God begin;
At stroke of midnight God shall win.”

W.B. Yeats

Parnell's Funeral and Other Poems http://worldebooklibrary.com/eBooks/WorldeBookLibrary.com/ytpafu.htm (1935). Supernatural Songs http://worldebooklibrary.com/eBooks/WorldeBookLibrary.com/ytpafu.htm#1_0_7 Context: p>Then he struggled with the mind; His proud heart he left behind. Now his wars on God begin; At stroke of midnight God shall win.</p

“Labour is blossoming or dancing where
The body is not bruised to pleasure soul.”

W.B. Yeats book The Tower

Among School Children http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1437/, st. 8 The Tower (1928) Context: Labour is blossoming or dancing where The body is not bruised to pleasure soul. Nor beauty born out of its own despair, Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil. O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer, Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole? O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, How can we know the dancer from the dance?

“Only the dead can be forgiven;
But when I think of that my tongue's a stone.”

W.B. Yeats book The Winding Stair and Other Poems

I, st. 4 The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933), A Dialogue of Self and Soul http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1397/ Context: My Soul. Such fullness in that quarter overflows And falls into the basin of the mind That man is stricken deaf and dumb and blind, For intellect no longer knows Is from the Ought, or knower from the Known — That is to say, ascends to Heaven; Only the dead can be forgiven; But when I think of that my tongue's a stone.

“The hourly kindness, the day’s common speech,
The habitual content of each with each
When neither soul nor body has been crossed.”

W.B. Yeats

King and No King http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1521/ The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910) Context: I that have not your faith, how shall I know That in the blinding light beyond the grave We’ll find so good a thing as that we have lost? The hourly kindness, the day’s common speech, The habitual content of each with each When neither soul nor body has been crossed.

“And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?
He that made this knows all the cost,
For he gave all his heart and lost.”

W.B. Yeats

Never Give All The Heart http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1545/ In The Seven Woods (1904) Context: Never give all the heart, for love Will hardly seem worth thinking of To passionate women if it seem Certain, and they never dream That it fades out from kiss to kiss; For everything that's lovely is but a brief, dreamy, kind of delight. O never give the heart outright, For they, for all smooth lips can say, Have given their hearts up to the play. And who could play it well enough If deaf and dumb and blind with love? He that made this knows all the cost, For he gave all his heart and lost.

“Come near, come near, come near — Ah, leave me still
A little space for the rose-breath to fill!”

W.B. Yeats

To The Rose Upon The Rood Of Time
The Rose (1893)
Context: Come near, come near, come near — Ah, leave me still
A little space for the rose-breath to fill!
Lest I no more hear common things that crave;
The weak worm hiding down in its small cave,
The field-mouse running by me in the grass,
And heavy mortal hopes that toil and pass;
But seek alone to hear the strange things said
By God to the bright hearts of those long dead,
And learn to chaunt a tongue men do not know.
Come near; I would, before my time to go,
Sing of old Eire and the ancient ways:
Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days.

“Imitate him if you dare,
World-besotted traveller; he
Served human liberty.”

W.B. Yeats book The Winding Stair and Other Poems

Swift's Epitaph http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1586/. The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933) Context: Swift has sailed into his rest; Savage indignation there Cannot lacerate his breast. Imitate him if you dare, World-besotted traveller; he Served human liberty.

“She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.”

W.B. Yeats

Down By The Salley Gardens http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1476/ Crossways (1889) Context: p>Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet; She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet. She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree; But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.In a field by the river my love and I did stand, And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand. She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs; But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.</p

“Time can but make it easier to be wise
Though now it seems impossible, and so
All that you need is patience.”

W.B. Yeats

The Folly Of Being Comforted http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1623/ In The Seven Woods (1904) Context: One that is ever kind said yesterday: 'Your well-belovéd's hair has threads of grey, And little shadows come about her eyes; Time can but make it easier to be wise Though now it seems impossible, and so All that you need is patience.' Heart cries, 'No, I have not a crumb of comfort, not a grain. Time can but make her beauty over again: Because of that great nobleness of hers The fire that stirs about her, when she stirs, Burns but more clearly. O she had not these ways When all the wild summer was in her gaze.' O heart! O heart! if she'd but turn her head, You'd know the folly of being comforted.

“While on the shop and street I gazed
My body of a sudden blazed;
And twenty minutes more or less
It seemed, so great my happiness,
That I was blessed and could bless.”

W.B. Yeats book The Winding Stair and Other Poems

Source: The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933), Vacillation http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1751/, IV Context: My fiftieth year had come and gone, I sat, a solitary man, In a crowded London shop, An open book and empty cup On the marble table-top. While on the shop and street I gazed My body of a sudden blazed; And twenty minutes more or less It seemed, so great my happiness, That I was blessed and could bless.

“Till the wilderness cried aloud,
A secret between you two,
Between the proud and the proud.”

W.B. Yeats

Against Unworthy Praise http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1433/ The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910) Context: p>O heart, be at peace, because Nor knave nor dolt can break What's not for their applause Being for a woman's sake. Enough if the work has seemed, So did she your strength renew, A dream that a lion had dreamed Till the wilderness cried aloud, A secret between you two, Between the proud and the proud.What, still you would have their praise! But here's a haughtier text, The labyrinth of her days That her own strangeness perplexed; And how what her dreaming gave Earned slander, ingratitude, From self-same dolt and knave; Aye, and worse wrong than these. Yet she, singing upon her road, Half lion, half child, is at peace.</p

“She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.”

W.B. Yeats

Down By The Salley Gardens http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1476/ Crossways (1889) Context: p>Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet; She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet. She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree; But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.In a field by the river my love and I did stand, And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand. She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs; But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.</p