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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
JOHN BUTLER YEATS, by JEANNE ROBERT FOSTER Poet's Biography First Line: We shall remember him Last Line: "myself seen through a glass darkly." Subject(s): Memory; Poetry & Poets; Yeats, William Butler (1865-1939) | |||
We shall remember him As a man who had a little in him of the men of all time. We shall remember him -- This tall, lean-shouldered, witty Irishman, Master of the art of conversation, Jesting with us in his high-pitched Irish voice, That lilted to a delicate string Beyond our hearing. "Shakespeare was a kindly man," he often said. John Yeats was a kindly man Who gave lavishly of himself As if life had no end. Around him gathered The tangible aroma of life Full-flavored with intense living. "Ireland is kind," he said. "She has many faults, but I feel about her As I do about Heaven. If Heaven were a perfect place it would bore me. I like to think of Heaven as a place with discords; As a beautiful orchestration with Love as master of the music." "Montaigne said" -- that phrase was often on his lips. Stories of wits and poets and artists, Memories of Morris and Samuel Butler and Dowden, Brilliant debris of irrecoverable personality. "The artist is the only happy man," he told us. "Art springs from a mood of divine unreason. Unreason is when a man cannot be at peace with external conditions." We shall remember him intimately As we knew him -- his room, his pipes, his drawings. We shall remember him sitting at his easel, Keen-eyed, young, eager to live a thousand years, Unwearied by life, Sheltered beneath the green tree of his own thoughts. We shall remember him Ripening like an apple in quiet sunshine, Responsive to human affection, And -- patient of our human limitations -- Writing under his own portrait (Painted from his reflection in a mirror), "Myself seen through a glass darkly." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS by WENDELL BERRY REALITY AND WILLIE YEATS by JOHN CIARDI WHAT THE BONES KNOW by CAROLYN KIZER TO WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS ON TAGORE by MARIANNE MOORE LOOKING BACK AT YEATS by ELEANOR WILNER TO BE CARVED ON A STONE AT THOOR BALLYLEE (2) by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS BLUES FOR BYZANTIUM by CLAYTON ESHLEMAN IN MEMORY OF W.B. YEATS by WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN INSTRUCTIONS TO A MEDIUM, TO BE TRANSMITTED TO THE SHADE OF W.B. YEATS by DANIEL GERARD HOFFMAN THE WILLIAM P. FRYE [FEBRUARY 28, 1915] by JEANNE ROBERT FOSTER |
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