To Ireland in the Coming Times
Know, that I would accounted beTrue brother of that company,Who sang to sweeten Ireland's wrong,Ballad and story, rann and song;Nor be I any less of them,Because the red-rose-bordered hemOf her, whose history beganBefore God made the angelic clan,Trails all about the written page;For in the world's first blossoming ageThe light fall of her flying feetMade Ireland's heart begin to beat;And still the starry candles flareTo help her light foot here and there;And still the thoughts of Ireland broodUpon her holy quietude.
Nor may I less be counted oneWith Davis, Mangan, Ferguson,Because to him, who ponders well,My rhymes more than their rhyming tellOf the dim wisdoms old and deep,That God gives unto man in sleep.For the elemental beings goAbout my table to and fro.In flood and fire and clay and wind,They huddle from man's pondering mind;Yet he who treads in austere waysMay surely meet their ancient gaze.Man ever journeys on with themAfter the red-rose-bordered hem.Ah, faeries, dancing under the moon,A Druid land, a Druid tune!
While still I may, I write for youThe love I lived, the dream I knew.From our birthday, until we die,Is but the winking of an eye;And we, our singing and our love,The mariners of night above,And all the wizard things that goAbout my table to and fro.Are passing on to where may be,In truth's consuming ecstasyNo place for love and dream at all;For God goes by with white foot-fall.I cast my heart into my rhymes,That you, in the dim coming times,May know how my heart went with themAfter the red-rose-bordered hem.
Words in this poem
- rann n.
- Open robbery. Lambarde. [As. ran.]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- flare v. i.
- To burn with an unsteady or waving flame; as, the candle flares. [Cf. Norw. flara to blaze, flame, adorn with tinsel, dial. Sw. flasa upp, and E. flash, or flacker.]
- quietude n.
- Rest; repose; quiet; tranquillity. Shelley. [L. quietudo: cf. F. quiétude.]
- huddle v. i.
- To press together promiscuously, from confusion, apprehension, or the like; to crowd together confusedly; to press or hurry in disorder; to crowd. [Cf. OE. hoderen, hodren, to cover, keep, warm; perh. akin to OE. huden, hiden, to hide, E. hide, and orig. meaning, to get together for protection in a safe pla]
- druid n.
- One of an order of priests which in ancient times existed among certain branches of the Celtic race, especially among the Gauls and Britons. [L. Druides; of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael. draoi, druidh, magician, Druid, W. derwydd Druid.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Ireland in the Coming Times 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, To Ireland in the Coming Times, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38877, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-poems/to-ireland-in-the-coming-times.html, id L16667.
Form and metre
To Ireland in the Coming Times is 48 lines in 3 stanzas of 16 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 92% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 --AABBCCDDEEFFGG be · company · wrongA · songA · themB · hemB · beganC · clanC · pageD · ageD · feetE · beatE · flareF · thereF · broodG · quietudeG
- 2 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH oneA · fergusonA · wellB · tellB · deepC · sleepC · goD · froD · windE · mindE · waysF · gazeF · themG · hemG · moonH · tuneH
- 3 AABBCCDD--EEFFGG youA · knewA · dieB · eyeB · loveC · aboveC · goD · froD · be · ecstasy · allE · fallE · rhymesF · timesF · themG · hemG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Know, that I would accounted be | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| True brother of that company, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Who sang to sweeten Ireland's wrong, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Ballad and story, rann and song; | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Nor be I any less of them, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Because the red-rose-bordered hem | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| Of her, whose history began | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Before God made the angelic clan, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Trails all about the written page; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For in the world's first blossoming age | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| The light fall of her flying feet | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Made Ireland's heart begin to beat; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And still the starry candles flare | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To help her light foot here and there; | 8 | ········ |
| And still the thoughts of Ireland brood | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| Upon her holy quietude. | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Nor may I less be counted one | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With Davis, Mangan, Ferguson, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Because to him, who ponders well, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My rhymes more than their rhyming tell | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of the dim wisdoms old and deep, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That God gives unto man in sleep. | 8 | ········ |
| For the elemental beings go | 9 | ···˘/˘/˘· |
| About my table to and fro. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In flood and fire and clay and wind, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| They huddle from man's pondering mind; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| Yet he who treads in austere ways | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| May surely meet their ancient gaze. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Man ever journeys on with them | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| After the red-rose-bordered hem. | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| Ah, faeries, dancing under the moon, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| A Druid land, a Druid tune! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| While still I may, I write for you | 8 | ········ |
| The love I lived, the dream I knew. | 9 | ····˘···· |
| From our birthday, until we die, | 9 | ·/˘/····· |
| Is but the winking of an eye; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And we, our singing and our love, | 10 | ··/˘/˘·/˘· |
| The mariners of night above, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And all the wizard things that go | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| About my table to and fro. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Are passing on to where may be, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In truth's consuming ecstasy | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘˘ |
| No place for love and dream at all; | 8 | ········ |
| For God goes by with white foot-fall. | 8 | ········ |
| I cast my heart into my rhymes, | 8 | ········ |
| That you, in the dim coming times, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| May know how my heart went with them | 8 | ········ |
| After the red-rose-bordered hem. | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
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.