First Love
Though nurtured like the sailing moonIn beauty’s murderous brood,She walked awhile and blushed awhileAnd on my pathway stoodUntil I thought her body boreA heart of flesh and blood.
But since I laid a hand thereonAnd found a heart of stoneI have attempted many thingsAnd not a thing is done,For every hand is lunaticThat travels on the moon.
She smiled and that transfigured meAnd left me but a lout,Maundering here, and maundering there,Emptier of thoughtThan heavenly circuit of its starsWhen the moon sails out.
Words in this poem
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- thereon adv.
- On that or this. [AS. . See There, and On.]
- emptier n.
- One who, or that which, empties.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
First Love is in the public domain. This text is taken from The tower, Project Gutenberg ebook #72985; 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, First Love, in The Tower (1928), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #72985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-tower/first-love.html, id L19981.
Form and metre
First Love is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ---A-A moon · brood · awhile · stoodA · bore · bloodA
- 3 -A---A me · loutA · there · thought · stars · outA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Though nurtured like the sailing moon | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In beauty’s murderous brood, | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| She walked awhile and blushed awhile | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| And on my pathway stood | 6 | ···/·· |
| Until I thought her body bore | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A heart of flesh and blood. | 6 | ······ |
| But since I laid a hand thereon | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And found a heart of stone | 6 | ······ |
| I have attempted many things | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| And not a thing is done, | 6 | ······ |
| For every hand is lunatic | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| That travels on the moon. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| She smiled and that transfigured me | 8 | ········ |
| And left me but a lout, | 6 | ······ |
| Maundering here, and maundering there, | 9 | /˘˘··/˘˘· |
| Emptier of thought | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| Than heavenly circuit of its stars | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘··· |
| When the moon sails out. | 5 | ····· |
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.