To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing
Now all the truth is out,Be secret and take defeatFrom any brazen throat,For how can you compete,Being honour bred, with oneWho, were it proved he lies,Were neither shamed in his ownNor in his neighbours' eyes?Bred to a harder thingThan Triumph, turn awayAnd like a laughing stringWhereon mad fingers playAmid a place of stone,Be secret and exult,Because of all things knownThat is most difficult.
Words in this poem
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- 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
To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing 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, To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing, in Responsibilities (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36865, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-responsibilities/to-a-friend-whose-work-has-come-to-nothing.html, id L04556.
Form and metre
To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing is 16 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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-BCBDEDECFCF out · defeatA · throat · competeA · one · liesB · ownC · eyesB · thingD · awayE · stringD · playE · stoneC · exultF · knownC · difficultF
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Now all the truth is out, | 6 | ······ |
| Be secret and take defeat | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| From any brazen throat, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| For how can you compete, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Being honour bred, with one | 6 | //˘··· |
| Who, were it proved he lies, | 6 | ······ |
| Were neither shamed in his own | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Nor in his neighbours' eyes? | 6 | ······ |
| Bred to a harder thing | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Than Triumph, turn away | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| And like a laughing string | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Whereon mad fingers play | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Amid a place of stone, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Be secret and exult, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Because of all things known | 6 | ······ |
| That is most difficult. | 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.