William Butler Yeats (1865-1939 / County Dublin / Ireland)

poet William Butler Yeats
#15 on top 500 poets

Quotations

  • ''From where Pan's cavern is
    Intolerable music falls.
    Foul goat-head, brutal arm appear,
    Belly, shoulder, bum,
    Flash fishlike; nymphs and satyrs
    Copulate in the foam.''
    William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet. News for the Delphic Oracle (l. 31-36). . . The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats. Richard J. Finneran, ed. (1989) Macmillan.
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  • ''The intellect of man is forced to choose
    Perfection of the life, or of the work,''
    William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet. The Choice (l. 1-2). . . The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats. Richard J. Finneran, ed. (1989) Macmillan.
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  • ''The wrong of unshapely things is a wrong too great to be told;
    I hunger to build them anew and sit on a green knoll apart....''
    William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet, playwright. "The Lover Tells of the Rose in His Heart."
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  • ''Away with us he's going,
    The solemn-eyed:
    He'll hear no more the lowing
    Of the calves on the warm hillside
    Or the kettle on the hob
    Sing peace into his breast,''
    William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet. The Stolen Child (l. 43-48). . . The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats. Richard J. Finneran, ed. (1989) Macmillan.
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  • ''I would that I were an old beggar
    Rolling a blind pearl eye,
    For he cannot see my lady
    Go gallivanting by.''
    William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet, playwright. "Two Songs Rewritten for the Tune's Sake."
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  • ''St Joseph thought the world would melt
    But liked the way his finger smelt.''
    William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet, playwright. "A Stick of Incense."
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  • ''Processions that lack high stilts have nothing that catches the eye.
    What if my great-granddad had a pair that were twenty foot high,
    And mine were but fifteen foot, no modern stalks upon higher,
    Some rogue of the world stole them to patch up a fence or a fire.''
    William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet, playwright. "High Talk."
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  • ''But is there any comfort to be found?
    Man is in love and loves what vanishes,
    What more is there to say?''
    William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet, playwright. "Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen."
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  • ''In luck or out the toil has left its mark:
    That old perplexity an empty purse,
    Or the day's vanity, the night's remorse.''
    William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet. The Choice (l. 6-8). . . The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats. Richard J. Finneran, ed. (1989) Macmillan.
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  • ''I wander on, and wave my hands,
    And sing, and shake my heavy locks.
    The grey wolf knows me; by one ear
    I lead along the woodland deer;
    The hares run by me growing bold.''
    William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet, playwright. "The Madness of King Goll."
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An Acre Of Grass

PICTURE and book remain,
An acre of green grass
For air and exercise,
Now strength of body goes;
Midnight, an old house
Where nothing stirs but a mouse.

My temptation is quiet.
Here at life's end

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