The Mask
'Put off that mask of burning goldWith emerald eyes.''O no, my dear, you make so boldTo find if hearts be wild and wise,And yet not cold.'
'I would but find what's there to find,Love or deceit.''It was the mask engaged your mind,And after set your heart to beat,Not what's behind.'
'But lest you are my enemy,I must enquire.''O no, my dear, let all that be,What matter, so there is but fireIn you, in me?'
About this text
The Mask 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 Mask, in Responsibilities (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36865, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-responsibilities/the-mask.html, id L04594.
Form and metre
The Mask is 15 lines in 3 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABA, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.6 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% 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 ABABA goldA · eyesB · boldA · wiseB · coldA
- 2 ABABA findA · deceitB · mindA · beatB · behindA
- 3 -ABAB enemy · enquireA · beB · fireA · meB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 'Put off that mask of burning gold | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With emerald eyes.' | 4 | ·/˘· |
| 'O no, my dear, you make so bold | 8 | ········ |
| To find if hearts be wild and wise, | 8 | ········ |
| And yet not cold.' | 4 | ···· |
| 'I would but find what's there to find, | 8 | ········ |
| Love or deceit.' | 4 | ··˘/ |
| 'It was the mask engaged your mind, | 9 | ····˘/˘·· |
| And after set your heart to beat, | 8 | ········ |
| Not what's behind.' | 4 | ···· |
| 'But lest you are my enemy, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| I must enquire.' | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| 'O no, my dear, let all that be, | 8 | ········ |
| What matter, so there is but fire | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| In you, in me?' | 4 | ···· |
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.