Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


AN APPOINTMENT by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Poet Analysis

First Line: BEING OUT OF HEART WITH GOVERNMENT
Last Line: NO GOVERNMENT APPOINTED HIM.
Subject(s): FREEDOM; LIBERTY;

BEING out of heart with government
I took a broken root to fling
Where the proud, wayward squirrel went,
Taking delight that he could spring;
And he, with that low whinnying sound
That is like laughter, sprang again
And so to the other tree at a bound.
Nor the tame will, nor timid brain,
Nor heavy knitting of the brow
Bred that fierce tooth and cleanly limb
And threw him up to laugh on the bough;
No government appointed him.



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