Sixteen Dead Men
O but we talked at large beforeThe sixteen men were shot,But who can talk of give and take,What should be and what not?While those dead men are loitering thereTo stir the boiling pot.
You say that we should still the landTill Germany’s overcome;But who is there to argue thatNow Pearse is deaf and dumb?And is their logic to outweighMacDonagh’s bony thumb?
How could you dream they’d listenThat have an ear aloneFor those new comrades they have foundLord Edward and Wolfe Tone,Or meddle with our give and takeThat converse bone to bone.
Words in this poem
- outweigh v. t.
- To exceed in weight or value.
- meddle v. i.
- To mix; to mingle. [OE. medlen to mix, OF. medler, mesler, F. mêler, LL. misculare, a dim. fr. L. miscere to mix. Mix, and cf. Medley, Mellay.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sixteen Dead Men is in the public domain. This text is taken from Michael Robartes and the dancer, Project Gutenberg ebook #72987; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. B. Yeats, Sixteen Dead Men, in Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #72987, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-michael-robartes/sixteen-dead-men.html, id L19946.
Form and metre
Sixteen Dead Men is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A-A before · shotA · take · notA · there · potA
- 2 -A-A-A land · overcomeA · that · dumbA · outweigh · thumbA
- 3 AA-A-A listenA · aloneA · found · toneA · take · boneA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O but we talked at large before | 8 | ········ |
| The sixteen men were shot, | 6 | ·˘/··· |
| But who can talk of give and take, | 8 | ········ |
| What should be and what not? | 6 | ······ |
| While those dead men are loitering there | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To stir the boiling pot. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| You say that we should still the land | 8 | ········ |
| Till Germany’s overcome; | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| But who is there to argue that | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Now Pearse is deaf and dumb? | 6 | ······ |
| And is their logic to outweigh | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| MacDonagh’s bony thumb? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| How could you dream they’d listen | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| That have an ear alone | 6 | ····˘/ |
| For those new comrades they have found | 8 | ···/···· |
| Lord Edward and Wolfe Tone, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Or meddle with our give and take | 8 | ·/˘·/··· |
| That converse bone to bone. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.