To a Shade
If you have revisited the town, thin Shade,Whether to look upon your monument(I wonder if the builder has been paid)Or happier thoughted when the day is spentTo drink of that salt breath out of the seaWhen grey gulls flit about instead of men,And the gaunt houses put on majesty:Let these content you and be gone again;For they are at their old tricks yet.
A manOf your own passionate serving kind who had broughtIn his full hands what, had they only known,Had given their children's children loftier thought,Sweeter emotion, working in their veinsLike gentle blood, has been driven from the place,And insult heaped upon him for his painsAnd for his open-handedness, disgrace;An old foul mouth that slandered you had setThe pack upon him.
Go, unquiet wanderer,And gather the Glasnevin coverletAbout your head till the dust stops your ear,The time for you to taste of that salt breathAnd listen at the corners has not come;You had enough of sorrow before death--Away, away! You are safer in the tomb.
Words in this poem
- flit a.
- Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
- gaunt a.
- Attenuated, as with fasting or suffering; lean; meager; pinched and grim. [Cf. Norw. gand a thin pointed stick, a tall and thin man, and W. gwan weak.]
- unquiet v. t.
- To disquiet. Ld. Herbert. [1st pref. un- + quiet.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Shade 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 Shade, in Responsibilities (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36865, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-responsibilities/to-a-shade.html, id L04558.
Form and metre
To a Shade is 26 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.4 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% 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 ABAB-C-C- shadeA · monumentB · paidA · spentB · sea · menC · majesty · againC · yet
- 2 -A-ABCBC-- man · broughtA · known · thoughtA · veinsB · placeC · painsB · disgraceC · set · him
- 3 ---A-A- wanderer · coverlet · ear · breathA · come · deathA · tomb
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If you have revisited the town, thin Shade, | 10 | ···˘/˘···· |
| Whether to look upon your monument | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| (I wonder if the builder has been paid) | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Or happier thoughted when the day is spent | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| To drink of that salt breath out of the sea | 10 | ·········· |
| When grey gulls flit about instead of men, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| And the gaunt houses put on majesty: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Let these content you and be gone again; | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| For they are at their old tricks yet. | 8 | ········ |
| A man | 2 | ·· |
| Of your own passionate serving kind who had brought | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| In his full hands what, had they only known, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Had given their children's children loftier thought, | 10 | ·/·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Sweeter emotion, working in their veins | 10 | /˘˘/˘/˘··· |
| Like gentle blood, has been driven from the place, | 10 | ·/˘···/··· |
| And insult heaped upon him for his pains | 10 | ·˘/······· |
| And for his open-handedness, disgrace; | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| An old foul mouth that slandered you had set | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The pack upon him. | 5 | ····· |
| Go, unquiet wanderer, | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘˘ |
| And gather the Glasnevin coverlet | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| About your head till the dust stops your ear, | 10 | ·········· |
| The time for you to taste of that salt breath | 10 | ·········· |
| And listen at the corners has not come; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| You had enough of sorrow before death-- | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Away, away! You are safer in the tomb. | 11 | ˘/˘/··/˘··· |
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.