The Player Queen
My mother dandled me and sang,'How young it is, how young!'And made a golden cradleThat on a willow swung.
'He went away,' my mother sang,'When I was brought to bed,'And all the while her needle pulledThe gold and silver thread.
She pulled the thread and bit the threadAnd made a golden gown,And wept because she had dreamt that IWas born to wear a crown.
'When she was got,' my mother sang,'I heard a sea-mew cry,And saw a flake of the yellow foamThat dropped upon my thigh.'
How therefore could she help but braidThe gold into my hair,And dream that I should carryThe golden top of care?
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- flake n.
- A paling; a hurdle. [prov. Eng.] [Cf. Icel. flaki, fleki, Dan. flage, D. vlaak.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Player Queen 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 Player Queen, in Responsibilities (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36865, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-responsibilities/the-player-queen.html, id L04567.
Form and metre
The Player Queen is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 3 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 common measure.
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 -A-A sang · youngA · cradle · swungA
- 2 -A-A sang · bedA · pulled · threadA
- 3 -A-A thread · gownA · i · crownA
- 4 -A-A sang · cryA · foam · thighA
- 5 -A-A braid · hairA · carry · careA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| My mother dandled me and sang, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| 'How young it is, how young!' | 6 | ······ |
| And made a golden cradle | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| That on a willow swung. | 6 | ···/·· |
| 'He went away,' my mother sang, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| 'When I was brought to bed,' | 6 | ······ |
| And all the while her needle pulled | 9 | ·····/˘·˘ |
| The gold and silver thread. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| She pulled the thread and bit the thread | 9 | ··˘······ |
| And made a golden gown, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And wept because she had dreamt that I | 9 | ········· |
| Was born to wear a crown. | 6 | ······ |
| 'When she was got,' my mother sang, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'I heard a sea-mew cry, | 6 | ······ |
| And saw a flake of the yellow foam | 9 | ······/˘· |
| That dropped upon my thigh.' | 6 | ······ |
| How therefore could she help but braid | 8 | ········ |
| The gold into my hair, | 6 | ······ |
| And dream that I should carry | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The golden top of care? | 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.