Classic and Contemporary Poetry
KING AND NO KING, by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Would it were anything but merely voice! Last Line: When neither soul nor body has been crossed. Alternate Author Name(s): Yeats, W. B. Subject(s): Courts & Couriers; Loss | ||||||||
'WOULD it were anything but merely voice!' The No King cried who after that was King, Because he had not heard of anything That balanced with a word is more than noise; Yet Old Romance being kind, let him prevail Somewhere or somehow that I have forgot, Though he'd but cannon -- Whereas we that had thought To have lit upon as clean and sweet a tale Have been defeated by that pledge you gave In momentary anger long ago; And I that have not your faith, how shall I know That in the blinding light beyond the grave We'll find so good a thing as that we have lost? The hourly kindness, the day's common speech, The habitual content of each with each When neither soul nor body has been crossed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...1851: A MESSAGE TO DENMARK HILL by RICHARD HOWARD WHAT GREAT GRIEF HAS MADE THE EMPRESS MUTE by JUNE JORDAN HEAVY SUMMER RAIN by JANE KENYON BURNING THE OLD YEAR by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE POSTCARDS TO COLUMBUS by SHERMAN ALEXIE SIXTEEN DEAD MEN by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS |
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