“The fascination of what's difficult
Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent
Spontaneous joy and natural content
Out of my heart.”

—  W.B. Yeats

The Fascination Of What's Difficult http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1619/
The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910)
Context: The fascination of what's difficult
Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent
Spontaneous joy and natural content
Out of my heart. There's something ails our colt
That must, as if it had not holy blood
Nor on Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud,
Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and jolt
As though it dragged road-metal. My curse on plays
That have to be set up in fifty ways,
On the day's war with every knave and dolt,
Theatre business, management of men.
I swear before the dawn comes round again
I'll find the stable and pull out the bolt.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The fascination of what's difficult Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent Spontaneous joy and natural content …" by W.B. Yeats?
W.B. Yeats photo
W.B. Yeats 255
Irish poet and playwright 1865–1939

Related quotes

Woody Allen photo

“When I was kidnapped, my parents snapped into action. They rented out my room.”

Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician

Standup Comic (1999)

Honoré de Balzac photo

“Love may be the fairest gem which Society has filched from Nature; but what is motherhood save Nature in her most gladsome mood? A smile has dried my tears.”

Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) French writer

L’amour est le plus joli larcin que la Société ait su faire à la Nature; mais la maternité, n’est-ce pas la Nature dans sa joie? Un sourire a séché mes larmes.
Part I, ch. XXVIII.
Letters of Two Brides (1841-1842)

Caterina Davinio photo

“And I go down the stairs again
with the screeching of my worn out
soul

P. G. tunes instruments
for his golden arm
alchemy in a metropolitan shell

The squeak of time was
thrown back into the cracks
where the plaster has the form of a twisting branch

and my veins are sturdy trunks,
scaly, for drops of green sap
nourishment rising
from the bowels of the earth,
…”

Caterina Davinio (1957) Italian writer

The Book of Opium (1975 - 1990), (Heroin) P. G.'s Basement
Source: Caterina Davinio, Il libro dell'oppio 1975 – 1990 (The Book of Opium 1975 – 1990), Puntoacapo Editrice, Novi Ligure 2012. English translation by Caterina Davinio and David W. Seaman.

Noel Gallagher photo

“God gave me a soul / And your rock 'n' roll
In and out my brain / And running through my vein / You're my sunshine / You're my rain”

Noel Gallagher (1967) British musician

The Hindu Times
Heathen Chemistry (2002)

“How to get joy out of nature.”

Frank Crane (1861–1928) American Presbyterian minister

Four Minute Essays Vol. 7 (1919), A School for Living

Vladimir Nabokov photo

“In and out of my heart flowed my rainbow blood.”

Source: Lolita

Immanuel Kant photo

“It is difficult for the isolated individual to work himself out of the immaturity which has become almost natural for him.”

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher

What is Enlightenment? (1784)
Context: It is difficult for the isolated individual to work himself out of the immaturity which has become almost natural for him. He has even become fond of it and for the time being is incapable of employing his own intelligence, because he has never been allowed to make the attempt. Statutes and formulas, these mechanical tools of a serviceable use, or rather misuse, of his natural faculties, are the ankle-chains of a continuous immaturity. Whoever threw it off would make an uncertain jump over the smallest trench because he is not accustomed to such free movement. Therefore there are only a few who have pursued a firm path and have succeeded in escaping from immaturity by their own cultivation of the mind.

Charlotte Wessels photo

“This heart is black
like blood that has dried”

Charlotte Wessels (1987) Dutch singer

Here Come the Vultures, The Human Contradiction (2014)

Related topics