The Leaders of the Crowd
They must to keep their certainty accuseAll that are different of a base intent;Pull down established honour; hawk for newsWhatever their loose phantasy inventAnd murmur it with bated breath, as thoughThe abounding gutter had been HeliconOr calumny a song. How can they knowTruth flourishes where the student’s lamp has shone,And there alone, that have no solitude?So the crowd come they care not what may come.They have loud music, hope every day renewedAnd heartier loves; that lamp is from the tomb.
Words in this poem
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- invent v. t.
- To come or light upon; to meet; to find. [L. inventus, p. p. of invenire to come upon, to find, invent; pref. in- in + venire to come, akin to E. come: cf. F. inventer. See Come.]
- bated a.
- Reduced; lowered; restrained; as, to speak with bated breath.
- helicon n.
- A mountain in Boeotia, in Greece, supposed by the Greeks to be the residence of Apollo and the Muses.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Leaders of the Crowd 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, The Leaders of the Crowd, in Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #72987, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-michael-robartes/the-leaders-of-the-crowd.html, id L19949.
Form and metre
The Leaders of the Crowd is 12 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABABC-C-D-D- accuseA · intentB · newsA · inventB · thoughC · helicon · knowC · shone · solitudeD · come · renewedD · tomb
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| They must to keep their certainty accuse | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| All that are different of a base intent; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Pull down established honour; hawk for news | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Whatever their loose phantasy invent | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘/ |
| And murmur it with bated breath, as though | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The abounding gutter had been Helicon | 11 | ·˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Or calumny a song. How can they know | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Truth flourishes where the student’s lamp has shone, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And there alone, that have no solitude? | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| So the crowd come they care not what may come. | 10 | ·········· |
| They have loud music, hope every day renewed | 11 | ···/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| And heartier loves; that lamp is from the tomb. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
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.