A Woman Young And Old Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEDFGHG AI JKLKMINIDOPQHIRI AE MSTUUSVWREERXXRTTR YHYZRA2RA2TRTR T E B2C2PC2RD2E2F2G2H2I2 H2 E J2XXJ2K2K2K2CCL2M2DL 2N2N2N2SS UO2RRO2RK2RCRK2N2P2M 2CR Q2 R2Q2S2Q2S2I2SST2DU2V 2W2DX2X2Y2F2Y2F2Z2H2 K2K2A3B3XC3D3B3SS RE N2CE3N2NN2F3J2E3J2G3 J2 R RH3RV2KN2KSK RU PQ2OQ2N2 I3DJ3K3 L3N2M3M3M3 N2D RN3RRRRN3RN2M3N2M3M3 M3M3M3

IA
FATHER AND CHILDB
SHE hears me strike the board and sayC
That she is under banD
Of all good men and womenE
Being mentioned with a manD
That has the worst of all bad namesF
And thereupon repliesG
That his hair is beautifulH
Cold as the March wind his eyesG
-
IIA
BEFORE THE WORLD WAS MADEI
-
IF I make the lashes darkJ
And the eyes more brightK
And the lips more scarletL
Or ask if all be rightK
From mirror after mirrorM
No vanity's displayedI
I'm looking for the face I hadN
Before the world was madeI
What if I look upon a manD
As though on my belovedO
And my blood be cold the whileP
And my heart unmovedQ
Why should he think me cruelH
Or that he is betrayedI
I'd have him love the thing that wasR
Before the world was madeI
-
IIIA
A FIRST CONFESSIONE
-
I ADMIT the briarM
Entangled in my hairS
Did not injure meT
My blenching and tremblingU
Nothing but dissemblingU
Nothing but coquetryS
I long for truth and yetV
I cannot stay from thatW
My better self disownsR
For a man's attentionE
Brings such satisfactionE
To the craving in my bonesR
Brightness that I pull backX
From the ZodiacX
Why those questioning eyesR
That are fixed upon meT
What can they do but shun meT
If empty night repliesR
-
IV-
HER TRIUMPH-
-
I DID the dragon's will until you cameY
Because I had fancied love a casualH
Improvisation or a settled gameY
That followed if I let the kerchief fallZ
Those deeds were best that gave the minute wingsR
And heavenly music if they gave it witA2
And then you stood among the dragon ringsR
I mocked being crazy but you mastered itA2
And broke the chain and set my ankles freeT
Saint George or else a pagan PerseusR
And now we stare astonished at the seaT
And a miraculous strange bird shrieks at usR
-
VT
-
CONSOLATIONE
-
O BUT there is wisdomB2
In what the sages saidC2
But stretch that body for a whileP
And lay down that headC2
Till I have told the sagesR
Where man is comfortedD2
How could passion run so deepE2
Had I never thoughtF2
That the crime of being bornG2
Blackens all our lotH2
But where the crime's committedI2
The crime can be forgotH2
-
VI-
CHOSENE
-
THE lot of love is chosen I learnt that muchJ2
Struggling for an image on the trackX
Of the whirling ZodiacX
Scarce did he my body touchJ2
Scarce sank he from the westK2
Or found a subtetranean restK2
On the maternal midnight of my breastK2
Before I had marked him on his northern wayC
And seemed to stand although in bed I layC
I struggled with the horror of daybreakL2
I chose it for my lot If questioned onM2
My utmost pleasure with a manD
By some new married bride I takeL2
That stillness for a themeN2
Where his heart my heart did seemN2
And both adrift on the miraculous streamN2
Where wrote a learned astrologerS
The Zodiac is changed into a sphereS
-
VII-
PARTINGU
i He Dear I must be goneO2
While night Shuts the eyesR
Of the household spiesR
That song announces dawnO2
i She No night's bird and love'sR
Bids all true lovers restK2
While his loud song reprovesR
The murderous stealth of dayC
i He Daylight already fliesR
From mountain crest to crestK2
i She That light is from the moomN2
i He That birdP2
i She Let him sing onM2
I offer to love's playC
My dark declivitiesR
-
VIII-
HER VISION IN THE WOODQ2
-
DRY timber under that rich foliageR2
At wine dark midnight in the sacred woodQ2
Too old for a man's love I stood in rageS2
Imagining men Imagining that I couldQ2
A greater with a lesser pang assuageS2
Or but to find if withered vein ran bloodI2
I tore my body that its wine might coverS
Whatever could rccall the lip of loverS
And after that I held my fingers upT2
Stared at the wine dark nail or dark that ranD
Down every withered finger from the topU2
But the dark changed to red and torches shoneV2
And deafening music shook the leaves a troopW2
Shouldered a litter with a wounded manD
Or smote upon the string and to the soundX2
Sang of the beast that gave the fatal woundX2
All stately women moving to a songY2
With loosened hair or foreheads grief distraughtF2
It seemed a Quattrocento painter's throngY2
A thoughtless image of Mantegna's thoughtF2
Why should they think that are for ever youngZ2
Till suddenly in grief's contagion caughtH2
I stared upon his blood bedabbled breastK2
And sang my malediction with the restK2
That thing all blood and mire that beast torn wreckA3
Half turned and fixed a glazing eye on mineB3
And though love's bitter sweet had all come backX
Those bodies from a picture or a coinC3
Nor saw my body fall nor heard it shriekD3
Nor knew drunken with singing as with wineB3
That they had brought no fabulous symbol thereS
But my heart's victim and its torturerS
-
IXR
A LAST CONFESSIONE
-
WHAT lively lad most pleasured meN2
Of all that with me layC
I answer that I gave my soulE3
And loved in miseryN2
But had great pleasure with a ladN
That I loved bodilyN2
Flinging from his arms I laughedF3
To think his passion suchJ2
He fancied that I gave a soulE3
Did but our bodies touchJ2
And laughed upon his breast to thinkG3
Beast gave beast as muchJ2
I gave what other women gave-
'That stepped out of their clothesR
But when this soul its body off-
Naked to naked goesR
He it has found shall find thereinH3
What none other knowsR
And give his own and take his ownV2
And rule in his own rightK
And though it loved in miseryN2
Close and cling so tightK
There's not a bird of day that dareS
Extinguish that delightK
-
XR
MEETINGU
-
HIDDEN by old age awhileP
In masker's cloak and hoodQ2
Each hating what the other lovedO
Face to face we stoodQ2
'That I have met with such ' said heN2
'Bodes me little good '-
'Let others boast their fill ' said I-
'But never dare to boastI3
That such as I had such a manD
For lover in the pastJ3
Say that of living men I hateK3
Such a man the most '-
'A loony'd boast of such a love '-
He in his rage declaredL3
But such as he for such as meN2
Could we both discardM3
This beggarly habilimentM3
Had found a sweeter wordM3
-
XIN2
FROM THE 'ANTIGONE'D
-
OVERCOME O bitter sweetnessR
Inhabitant of the soft cheek of a girlN3
The rich man and his affairsR
The fat flocks and the fields' fatnessR
Mariners rough harvestersR
Overcome Gods upon ParnassusR
Overcome the Empyrean hurlN3
Heaven and Earth out of their placesR
That in the Same calamityN2
Brother and brother friend and friendM3
Family and familyN2
City and city may contendM3
By that great glory driven wildM3
Pray I will and sing I mustM3
And yet I weep Oedipus' childM3
Descends into the loveless dustM3

William Butler Yeats



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