“Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make”

—  W.B. Yeats , book The Tower

St. 4
The Tower (1928), Sailing to Byzantium http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1575/
Context: Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

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W.B. Yeats photo
W.B. Yeats 255
Irish poet and playwright 1865–1939

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