The Fascination of What's Difficult
The fascination of what's difficultHas dried the sap out of my veins, and rentSpontaneous joy and natural contentOut of my heart. There's something ails our coltThat must, as if it had not holy blood,Nor on an Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud,Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and joltAs though it dragged road metal. My curse on playsThat have to be set up in fifty ways,On the day's war with every knave and dolt,Theatre business, management of men.I swear before the dawn comes round againI'll find the stable and pull out the bolt.
Words in this poem
- fascination n.
- The act of fascinating, bewhiching, or enchanting; enchantment; witchcraft; the exercise of a powerful or irresistible influence on the affections or passions; unseen, inexplicable influence. [L. fascinatio; cf. F. fascination.]
- knave n.
- A boy; especially, a boy servant. Wyclif. [OE., boy, servant, knave, AS. cnafa boy, youth; cf. AS. cnapa boy, youth, D. kna, G. knabe boy, knappe esquire, Icel. knapi, Sw. knape esquire, knäfvel knave.]
- theatre n.
- An edifice in which dramatic performances or spectacles are exhibited for the amusement of spectators; anciently uncovered, except the stage, but in modern times roofed. [F. thé\'83tre, L. theatrum, Gr. dhya to meditate, think. Cf. Theory.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Fascination of What's Difficult 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 Fascination of What's Difficult, in Responsibilities (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36865, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-responsibilities/the-fascination-of-what-s-difficult.html, id L04591.
Form and metre
The Fascination of What's Difficult is 13 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 54% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBA--ACCADDA difficultA · rentB · contentB · coltA · blood · cloud · joltA · playsC · waysC · doltA · menD · againD · boltA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The fascination of what's difficult | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent | 10 | ·········· |
| Spontaneous joy and natural content | 11 | ˘/˘˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Out of my heart. There's something ails our colt | 10 | ·····/˘·/· |
| That must, as if it had not holy blood, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Nor on an Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud, | 11 | ···˘/˘····· |
| Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and jolt | 10 | /˘········ |
| As though it dragged road metal. My curse on plays | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| That have to be set up in fifty ways, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| On the day's war with every knave and dolt, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Theatre business, management of men. | 10 | /˘˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| I swear before the dawn comes round again | 10 | ········˘/ |
| I'll find the stable and pull out the bolt. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
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.