The Song of the Happy Shepherd
The woods of Arcady are dead,And over is their antique joy;Of old the world on dreaming fed;Gray Truth is now her painted toy;Yet still she turns her restless head:But O, sick children of the world,Of all the many changing thingsIn dreary dancing past us whirled,To the cracked tune that Chronos sings,Words alone are certain good.Where are now the warring kings,Word be-mockers?--By the RoodWhere are now the warring kings?An idle word is now their glory,By the stammering schoolboy said,Reading some entangled story:The kings of the old time are fledThe wandering earth herself may beOnly a sudden flaming word,In clanging space a moment heard,Troubling the endless reverie.
Then nowise worship dusty deeds,Nor seek; for this is also sooth;To hunger fiercely after truth,Lest all thy toiling only breedsNew dreams, new dreams; there is no truthSaving in thine own heart. Seek, then,No learning from the starry men,Who follow with the optic glassThe whirling ways of stars that pass--Seek, then, for this is also sooth,No word of theirs--the cold star-baneHas cloven and rent their hearts in twain,And dead is all their human truth.Go gather by the humming-seaSome twisted, echo-harbouring shell,And to its lips thy story tell,And they thy comforters will be,Rewarding in melodious guile,Thy fretful words a little while,Till they shall singing fade in ruth,And die a pearly brotherhood;For words alone are certain good:Sing, then, for this is also sooth.
I must be gone: there is a graveWhere daffodil and lily wave,And I would please the hapless faun,Buried under the sleepy ground,With mirthful songs before the dawn.His shouting days with mirth were crowned;And still I dream he treads the lawn,Walking ghostly in the dew,Pierced by my glad singing through,My songs of old earth's dreamy youth:But ah! she dreams not now; dream thou!For fair are poppies on the brow:Dream, dream, for this is also sooth.
Words in this poem 15
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- cracked a.
- Coarsely ground or broken; as, cracked wheat.
- rood n.
- A representation in sculpture or in painting of the cross with Christ hanging on it. [AS. rr, D. roede rod, G. ruthe, rute, OHG. ruota. CF. Rod a measure.]
- schoolboy n.
- A boy belonging to, or attending, a school.
- reverie n.
- A loose or irregular train of thought occurring in musing or mediation; deep musing; daydream. [F. réverie, fr. rêver to dream, rave, be light-headed. Cf. Rave.]
- nowise adv.
- Not in any manner or degree; in no way; noways. [For in no wise. See Wise, n.]
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- ruth n.
- Sorrow for the misery of another; pity; tenderness. [From Rue, v.: cf. Icel. hryggedh, hrygedh.]
- hapless a.
- Without hap or luck; luckless; unfortunate; unlucky; unhappy; as, hapless youth; hapless maid.
- faun n.
- A god of fields and shipherds, diddering little from the satyr. [L. Faunus, fr. favere to be favorable. See Favor.]
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- dreamy a.
- Abounding in dreams or given to dreaming; appropriate to, or like, dreams; visionary.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Song of the Happy Shepherd is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #38877; 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 Song of the Happy Shepherd, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38877, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-poems/the-song-of-the-happy-shepherd.html, id L16682.
Form and metre
The Song of the Happy Shepherd is 57 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABACDCD-D-DEAEA-FF- deadA · joyB · fedA · toyB · headA · worldC · thingsD · whirledC · singsD · good · kingsD · rood · kingsD · gloryE · saidA · storyE · fledA · be · wordF · heardF · reverie
- 2 ABBABCCDDBEEBFGGFHHBIIB deedsA · soothB · truthB · breedsA · truthB · thenC · menC · glassD · passD · soothB · baneE · twainE · truthB · seaF · shellG · tellG · beF · guileH · whileH · ruthB · brotherhoodI · goodI · soothB
- 3 AABCBCBDDEFFE graveA · waveA · faunB · groundC · dawnB · crownedC · lawnB · dewD · throughD · youthE · thouF · browF · soothE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The woods of Arcady are dead, | 8 | ········ |
| And over is their antique joy; | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Of old the world on dreaming fed; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Gray Truth is now her painted toy; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Yet still she turns her restless head: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But O, sick children of the world, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of all the many changing things | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In dreary dancing past us whirled, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To the cracked tune that Chronos sings, | 8 | ········ |
| Words alone are certain good. | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Where are now the warring kings, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Word be-mockers?--By the Rood | 7 | ······· |
| Where are now the warring kings? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| An idle word is now their glory, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| By the stammering schoolboy said, | 8 | ··/˘˘/·· |
| Reading some entangled story: | 8 | /˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| The kings of the old time are fled | 8 | ········ |
| The wandering earth herself may be | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Only a sudden flaming word, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| In clanging space a moment heard, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Troubling the endless reverie. | 9 | /˘˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| Then nowise worship dusty deeds, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Nor seek; for this is also sooth; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To hunger fiercely after truth, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Lest all thy toiling only breeds | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| New dreams, new dreams; there is no truth | 8 | ········ |
| Saving in thine own heart. Seek, then, | 8 | /˘······ |
| No learning from the starry men, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Who follow with the optic glass | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The whirling ways of stars that pass-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Seek, then, for this is also sooth, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No word of theirs--the cold star-bane | 8 | ········ |
| Has cloven and rent their hearts in twain, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And dead is all their human truth. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Go gather by the humming-sea | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Some twisted, echo-harbouring shell, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And to its lips thy story tell, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And they thy comforters will be, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Rewarding in melodious guile, | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Thy fretful words a little while, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Till they shall singing fade in ruth, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And die a pearly brotherhood; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| For words alone are certain good: | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Sing, then, for this is also sooth. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I must be gone: there is a grave | 8 | ········ |
| Where daffodil and lily wave, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And I would please the hapless faun, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Buried under the sleepy ground, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| With mirthful songs before the dawn. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| His shouting days with mirth were crowned; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And still I dream he treads the lawn, | 8 | ········ |
| Walking ghostly in the dew, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Pierced by my glad singing through, | 8 | ·˘···/˘· |
| My songs of old earth's dreamy youth: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But ah! she dreams not now; dream thou! | 8 | ········ |
| For fair are poppies on the brow: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Dream, dream, for this is also sooth. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.