His Dream
I swayed upon the gaudy sternThe butt end of a steering oar,And everywhere that I could turnMen ran upon the shore.
And though I would have hushed the crowdThere was no mother's son but said,'What is the figure in a shroudUpon a gaudy bed?'
And fishes bubbling to the brimCried out upon that thing beneath,--It had such dignity of limb--By the sweet name of Death.
Though I'd my finger on my lip,What could I but take up the song?And fish and crowd and gaudy shipCried out the whole night long,
Crying amid the glittering sea,Naming it with ecstatic breath,Because it had such dignityBy the sweet name of Death.
Words in this poem
- swayed a.
- Bent down, and hollow in the back; sway-backed; -- said of a horse.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
His Dream 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, His Dream, in Responsibilities (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36865, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-responsibilities/his-dream.html, id L04583.
Form and metre
His Dream is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 35% 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 ABAB sternA · oarB · turnA · shoreB
- 2 ABAB crowdA · saidB · shroudA · bedB
- 3 A-A- brimA · beneath · limbA · death
- 4 ABAB lipA · songB · shipA · longB
- 5 -A-A sea · breathA · dignity · deathA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I swayed upon the gaudy stern | 9 | ··˘···/˘· |
| The butt end of a steering oar, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And everywhere that I could turn | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Men ran upon the shore. | 6 | ······ |
| And though I would have hushed the crowd | 9 | ······˘·· |
| There was no mother's son but said, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'What is the figure in a shroud | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Upon a gaudy bed?' | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And fishes bubbling to the brim | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘··· |
| Cried out upon that thing beneath, | 8 | ········ |
| --It had such dignity of limb-- | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| By the sweet name of Death. | 6 | ······ |
| Though I'd my finger on my lip, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What could I but take up the song? | 8 | ········ |
| And fish and crowd and gaudy ship | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Cried out the whole night long, | 6 | ······ |
| Crying amid the glittering sea, | 9 | /˘˘/·/˘˘· |
| Naming it with ecstatic breath, | 8 | /˘··˘/˘· |
| Because it had such dignity | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| By the sweet name of Death. | 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.