Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MEDITATIONS IN TIME OF CIVIL WAR: 2. MY HOUSE, by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: An ancient bridge, and a more ancient tower Alternate Author Name(s): Yeats, W. B. Variant Title(s): My House Subject(s): Ireland - Rebellions | ||||||||
An ancient bridge, and a more ancient tower, A farmhouse that is sheltered by its wall, An acre of stony ground, Where the symbolic rose can break in flower, Old ragged elms, old thorns innumerable, The sound of the rain or sound Of every wind that blows; The stilted water-hen Crossing Stream again Scared by the splashing of a dozen cows; A winding stair, a chamber arched with stone, A grey stone fireplace with an open hearth, A candle and written page. i(Il Penseroso's) Platonist toiled on In some like chamber, shadowing forth How the daemonic rage Imagined everything. Benighted travellers From markets and from fairs Have seen his midnight candle glimmering. Two men have founded here. A man-at-arms Gathered a score of horse and spent his days In this tumultuous spot, Where through long wars and sudden night alarms His dwinding score and he seemed castaways Forgetting and forgot; And I, that after me My bodily heirs may find, To exalt a lonely mind, Befitting emblems of adversity. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FONTENOY by THOMAS OSBORNE DAVIS DIRGE OF RORY O'MORE; 1642 by AUBREY THOMAS DE VERE THE IRISH RAPPAREES; A PEASANT BALLAD OF 1691 by CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY MEMORY OF THE IRISH DEAD by JOHN KELLS INGRAM FONTENOY, 1745: 1. BEFORE THE BATTLE: NIGHT by EMILY LAWLESS FONTENOY, 1745: 2. AFTER THE BATTLE, EARLY DAWN, CLARE COAST by EMILY LAWLESS REBEL MOTHER'S LULLABY by SHANE LESLIE THE CROPPY BOY: (A BALLAD OF '98) by WILLIAM B. MCBURNEY O, BREATHE NOT HIS NAME! by THOMAS MOORE SIXTEEN DEAD MEN by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS |
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