Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AGAINST UNWORTHY PRAISE, by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AGAINST UNWORTHY PRAISE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: O heart, be at peace, because
Last Line: Half lion, half child, is at peace.
Alternate Author Name(s): Yeats, W. B.
Subject(s): Defamation; Peace


O HEART, be at peace, because
Nor knave nor dolt can break
What's not for their applause,
Being for a woman's sake.
Enough if the work has seemed,
So did she your strength renew,
A dream that a lion had dreamed
Till the wilderness cried aloud,
A secret between you two,
Between the proud and the proud.

What, still you would have their praise!
But here's a haughtier text,
The labyrinth of her days
That her own strangeness perplexed;
And how what her dreaming gave
Earned slander, ingratitude,
From self-same dolt and knave;
Aye, and worse wrong than these.
Yet she, singing upon her road,
Half lion, half child, is at peace.





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