The Tower Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCBDEDADAFGFGADAD A HHIJDKKD LMNNOPQO RSTTCHHC UUVVWXXW YYWWZA2A2B2 WWC2C2D2CCD2 WWE2F2C2HHC2 G2H2I2J2C2C2C2C2 C2C2C2CK2L2L2K2 WWM2N2O2I2P2O2 Q2ER2R2C2WWC2 YYS2T2D2AAD2 U2V2W2W2X2C2C2Y2 A DWDWW2HW2CZ2WA3WC2WC 2WCACAA2D2A2D2B3X2C3 D3DDDDA3C2Z2C2C2C2C2 C2H2WH2WA2 HA2CE3L2F3L2 W2WW2WAZAZ DBDBG3E2G3E2H3AH3AC2 AC2

IA
-
What shall I do with this absurdityB
O heart O troubled heart this caricatureC
Decrepit age that has been tied to meB
As to a dog's tailD
Never had I moreE
Excited passionate fantasticalD
Imagination nor an ear and eyeA
That more expected the impossibleD
No not in boyhood when with rod and flyA
Or the humbler worm I climbed Ben Bulben's backF
And had the livelong summer day to spendG
It seems that I must bid the Muse go packF
Choose Plato and Plotinus for a friendG
Until imagination ear and eyeA
Can be content with argument and dealD
In abstract things or be derided byA
A sort of battered kettle at the heelD
-
IIA
-
I pace upon the battlements and stareH
On the foundations of a house or whereH
Tree like a sooty finger starts from the earthI
And send imagination forthJ
Under the day's declining beam and callD
Images and memoriesK
From ruin or from ancient treesK
For I would ask a question of them allD
-
Beyond that ridge lived Mrs French and onceL
When every silver candlestick or sconceM
Lit up the dark mahogany and the wineN
A serving man that could divineN
That most respected lady's every wishO
Ran and with the garden shearsP
Clipped an insolent farmer's earsQ
And brought them in a little covered dishO
-
Some few remembered still when I was youngR
A peasant girl commended by a SongS
Who'd lived somewhere upon that rocky placeT
And praised the colour of her faceT
And had the greater joy in praising herC
Remembering that if walked she thereH
Farmers jostled at the fairH
So great a glory did the song conferC
-
And certain men being maddened by those rhymesU
Or else by toasting her a score of timesU
Rose from the table and declared it rightV
To test their fancy by their sightV
But they mistook the brightness of the moonW
For the prosaic light of dayX
Music had driven their wits astrayX
And one was drowned in the great bog of ClooneW
-
Strange but the man who made the song was blindY
Yet now I have considered it I findY
That nothing strange the tragedy beganW
With Homer that was a blind manW
And Helen has all living hearts betrayedZ
O may the moon and sunlight seemA2
One inextricable beamA2
For if I triumph I must make men madB2
-
And I myself created HanrahanW
And drove him drunk or sober through the dawnW
From somewhere in the neighbouring cottagesC2
Caught by an old man's juggleriesC2
He stumbled tumbled fumbled to and froD2
And had but broken knees for hireC
And horrible splendour of desireC
I thought it all out twenty years agoD2
-
Good fellows shuffled cards in an old bawnW
And when that ancient ruffian's turn was onW
He so bewitched the cards under his thumbE2
That all but the one card becameF2
A pack of hounds and not a pack of cardsC2
And that he changed into a hareH
Hanrahan rose in frenzy thereH
And followed up those baying creatures towardsC2
-
O towards I have forgotten what enoughG2
I must recall a man that neither loveH2
Nor music nor an enemy's clipped earI2
Could he was so harried cheerJ2
A figure that has grown so fabulousC2
There's not a neighbour left to sayC2
When he finished his dog's dayC2
An ancient bankrupt master of this houseC2
-
Before that ruin came for centuriesC2
Rough men at arms cross gartered to the kneesC2
Or shod in iron climbed the narrow stairsC2
And certain men at arms there wereC
Whose images in the Great Memory storedK2
Come with loud cry and panting breastL2
To break upon a sleeper's restL2
While their great wooden dice beat on the boardK2
-
As I would question all come all who canW
Come old necessitous half mounted manW
And bring beauty's blind rambling celebrantM2
The red man the juggler sentN2
Through God forsaken meadows Mrs FrenchO2
Gifted with so fine an earI2
The man drowned in a bog's mireP2
When mocking Muses chose the country wenchO2
-
Did all old men and women rich and poorQ2
Who trod upon these rocks or passed this doorE
Whether in public or in secret rageR2
As I do now against old ageR2
But I have found an answer in those eyesC2
That are impatient to be goneW
Go therefore but leave HanrahanW
For I need all his mighty memoriesC2
-
Old lecher with a love on every windY
Bring up out of that deep considering mindY
All that you have discovered in the graveS2
For it is certain that you haveT2
Reckoned up every unforeknown unseeingD2
plunge lured by a softening eyeA
Or by a touch or a sighA
Into the labyrinth of another's beingD2
-
Does the imagination dwell the mostU2
Upon a woman won or woman lostV2
If on the lost admit you turned asideW2
From a great labyrinth out of prideW2
Cowardice some silly over subtle thoughtX2
Or anything called conscience onceC2
And that if memory recur the sun'sC2
Under eclipse and the day blotted outY2
-
IIIA
-
It is time that I wrote my willD
I choose upstanding menW
That climb the streams untilD
The fountain leap and at dawnW
Drop their cast at the sideW2
Of dripping stone I declareH
They shall inherit my prideW2
The pride of people that wereC
Bound neither to Cause nor to StateZ2
Neither to slaves that were spat onW
Nor to the tyrants that spatA3
The people of Burke and of GrattanW
That gave though free to refuseC2
pride like that of the mornW
When the headlong light is looseC2
Or that of the fabulous hornW
Or that of the sudden showerC
When all streams are dryA
Or that of the hourC
When the swan must fix his eyeA
Upon a fading gleamA2
Float out upon a longD2
Last reach of glittering streamA2
And there sing his last songD2
And I declare my faithB3
I mock plotinus' thoughtX2
And cry in plato's teethC3
Death and life were notD3
Till man made up the wholeD
Made lock stock and barrelD
Out of his bitter soulD
Aye sun and moon and star allD
And further add to thatA3
That being dead we riseC2
Dream and so createZ2
Translunar paradiseC2
I have prepared my peaceC2
With learned Italian thingsC2
And the proud stones of GreeceC2
Poet's imaginingsC2
And memories of loveH2
Memories of the words of womenW
All those things whereofH2
Man makes a superhumanW
Mirror resembling dreamA2
-
As at the loophole thereH
The daws chatter and screamA2
And drop twigs layer upon layerC
When they have mounted upE3
The mother bird will restL2
On their hollow topF3
And so warm her wild nestL2
-
I leave both faith and prideW2
To young upstanding menW
Climbing the mountain sideW2
That under bursting dawnW
They may drop a flyA
Being of that metal madeZ
Till it was broken byA
This sedentary tradeZ
-
Now shall I make my soulD
Compelling it to studyB
In a learned schoolD
Till the wreck of bodyB
Slow decay of bloodG3
Testy deliriumE2
Or dull decrepitudeG3
Or what worse evil comeE2
The death of friends or deathH3
Of every brilliant eyeA
That made a catch in the breathH3
Seem but the clouds of the skyA
When the horizon fadesC2
Or a bird's sleepy cryA
Among the deepening shadesC2

William Butler Yeats



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