Peace
Ah, that Time could touch a formThat could show what Homer's ageBred to be a hero's wage.'Were not all her life but storm,Would not painters paint a formOf such noble lines,' I said,'Such a delicate high head,All that sternness amid charm,All that sweetness amid strength?'Ah, but peace that comes at length,Came when Time had touched her form.
Words in this poem
- wage v. i.
- To bind one's self; to engage.
- sternness n.
- The quality or state of being stern.
- 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
Peace 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, Peace, in Responsibilities (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36865, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-responsibilities/peace.html, id L04589.
Form and metre
Peace is 11 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 55% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic 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 ABBAACC-DDA formA · ageB · wageB · stormA · formA · saidC · headC · charm · strengthD · lengthD · formA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ah, that Time could touch a form | 7 | ······· |
| That could show what Homer's age | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Bred to be a hero's wage. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| 'Were not all her life but storm, | 7 | ······· |
| Would not painters paint a form | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of such noble lines,' I said, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| 'Such a delicate high head, | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| All that sternness amid charm, | 7 | ··/˘˘/· |
| All that sweetness amid strength?' | 7 | ··/˘˘/· |
| Ah, but peace that comes at length, | 7 | ······· |
| Came when Time had touched her form. | 7 | ······· |
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.