Sunday, March 23, 2008

THE DAWN, by William Butler Yeats


Image via Kids Read
Since because of copyright gnarls I'm not posting every poem I write, I'll post poems of others instead. I opened up a book on William Butler Yeats (Selected Poems And Four Plays) this evening and was staggered. I keep forgetting how great the great poets are:

THE DAWN, by William Butler Yeats

"I would be ignorant as the dawn
That has looked down
On that old queen measuring a town
With the pin of a brooch,
Or on the withered men that saw
From their pedantic Babylon
The careless planets in their courses,
The stars fade out where the moon comes,
And took their tablets and did sums;
I would be ignorant as the dawn
That merely stood, rocking the glittering coach
Above the cloudy shoulders of the horses;
I would be--for no knowledge is worth a straw--
Ignorant and wanton as the dawn."

This is simply an incredible poem to speak. I won't even start to go into meaning. Though the image of ignorance wielding tablets and sums and coming up with something beyond knowledge is beautiful. But so much of the beauty is in just saying the words.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Can you please analyze this poem? It sounds beautiful and I get the main gist, but not all of it make sense. Thanks!