A Woman Homer Sung
If any man drew nearWhen I was young,I thought, 'He holds her dear,'And shook with hate and fear.But oh, 'twas bitter wrongIf he could pass her byWith an indifferent eye.
Whereon I wrote and wrought,And now, being grey,I dream that I have broughtTo such a pitch my thoughtThat coming time can say,'He shadowed in a glassWhat thing her body was.'
For she had fiery bloodWhen I was young,And trod so sweetly proudAs 'twere upon a cloud,A woman Homer sung,That life and letters seemBut an heroic dream.
Words in this poem
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Woman Homer Sung is in the public domain. This text is taken from Responsibilities, and other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #36865; 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, A Woman Homer Sung, in Responsibilities (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36865, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-responsibilities/a-woman-homer-sung.html, id L04584.
Form and metre
A Woman Homer Sung is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.8 syllables. 43% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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-AA-BB nearA · young · dearA · fearA · wrong · byB · eyeB
- 2 ABAAB-- wroughtA · greyB · broughtA · thoughtA · sayB · glass · was
- 3 -ABBACC blood · youngA · proudB · cloudB · sungA · seemC · dreamC
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If any man drew near | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| When I was young, | 4 | ···· |
| I thought, 'He holds her dear,' | 6 | ······ |
| And shook with hate and fear. | 6 | ······ |
| But oh, 'twas bitter wrong | 6 | ···/˘· |
| If he could pass her by | 6 | ······ |
| With an indifferent eye. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Whereon I wrote and wrought, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| And now, being grey, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| I dream that I have brought | 6 | ······ |
| To such a pitch my thought | 6 | ······ |
| That coming time can say, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| 'He shadowed in a glass | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| What thing her body was.' | 6 | ···/˘· |
| For she had fiery blood | 6 | ···/˘· |
| When I was young, | 4 | ···· |
| And trod so sweetly proud | 6 | ···/˘· |
| As 'twere upon a cloud, | 6 | ······ |
| A woman Homer sung, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| That life and letters seem | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But an heroic dream. | 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.