The Dolls
A doll in the doll-maker's houseLooks at the cradle and balls:'That is an insult to us.'But the oldest of all the dollsWho had seen, being kept for show,Generations of his sort,Out-screams the whole shelf: 'AlthoughThere's not a man can reportEvil of this place,The man and the woman bringHither to our disgrace,A noisy and filthy thing.'Hearing him groan and stretchThe doll-maker's wife is awareHer husband has heard the wretch,And crouched by the arm of his chair,She murmurs into his ear,Head upon shoulder leant:'My dear, my dear, oh dear,It was an accident.'
Words in this poem
- crouched a.
- Marked with the sign of the cross. Crouched friar. See Crutched friar, under Crutched.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dolls 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, The Dolls, in Responsibilities (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36865, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-responsibilities/the-dolls.html, id L04581.
Form and metre
The Dolls is 20 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 2 lines end 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 ----ABABCDCDEFEFG-G- house · balls · us · dolls · showA · sortB · althoughA · reportB · placeC · bringD · disgraceC · thingD · stretchE · awareF · wretchE · chairF · earG · leant · dearG · accident
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A doll in the doll-maker's house | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Looks at the cradle and balls: | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| 'That is an insult to us.' | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| But the oldest of all the dolls | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Who had seen, being kept for show, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Generations of his sort, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Out-screams the whole shelf: 'Although | 7 | ······· |
| There's not a man can report | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Evil of this place, | 5 | /˘··· |
| The man and the woman bring | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Hither to our disgrace, | 7 | /˘·/˘˘/ |
| A noisy and filthy thing.' | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Hearing him groan and stretch | 6 | /˘···· |
| The doll-maker's wife is aware | 8 | ··/˘··˘/ |
| Her husband has heard the wretch, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And crouched by the arm of his chair, | 9 | ··˘······ |
| She murmurs into his ear, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Head upon shoulder leant: | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| 'My dear, my dear, oh dear, | 6 | ······ |
| It was an accident.' | 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.