My Table
Two heavy tressels, and a boardWhere Sato’s gift, a changeless sword,By pen and paper lies,That it may moraliseMy days out of their aimlessness.A bit of an embroidered dressCovers its wooden sheath.Chaucer had not drawn breathWhen it was forged. In Sato’s house,Curved like new moon, moon luminousIt lay five hundred years.Yet if no change appearsNo moon; only an aching heartConceives a changeless work of art.Our learned men have urgedThat when and where ’twas forgedA marvellous accomplishment,In painting or in pottery, wentFrom father unto sonAnd through the centuries ranAnd seemed unchanging like the sword.Soul’s beauty being most adored,Men and their business tookThe soul’s unchanging look;For the most rich inheritor,Knowing that none could pass heaven’s doorThat loved inferior art,Had such an aching heartThat he, although a country’s talkFor silken clothes and stately walk,Had waking wits; it seemedJuno’s peacock screamed.
Words in this poem
- changeless a.
- That can not be changed; constant; as, a changeless purpose.
- moralise v. t.
- To apply to a moral purpose; to explain in a moral sense; to draw a moral from. [Cf. F. moraliser.]
- aching a.
- That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- inheritor n.
- One who inherits; an heir.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
My Table 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, My Table, in The Tower (1928), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #72985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-tower/my-table.html, id L19962.
Form and metre
My Table is 32 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 75% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABBCC--CCDDEE--FF--GGHH--IIJJKK boardA · swordA · liesB · moraliseB · aimlessnessC · dressC · sheath · breath · houseC · luminousC · yearsD · appearsD · heartE · artE · urged · forged · accomplishmentF · wentF · son · ran · swordG · adoredG · tookH · lookH · inheritor · door · artI · heartI · talkJ · walkJ · seemedK · screamedK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Two heavy tressels, and a board | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Where Sato’s gift, a changeless sword, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| By pen and paper lies, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| That it may moralise | 6 | ···/˘· |
| My days out of their aimlessness. | 8 | ········ |
| A bit of an embroidered dress | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Covers its wooden sheath. | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Chaucer had not drawn breath | 6 | /˘···· |
| When it was forged. In Sato’s house, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Curved like new moon, moon luminous | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| It lay five hundred years. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Yet if no change appears | 6 | ····˘/ |
| No moon; only an aching heart | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| Conceives a changeless work of art. | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Our learned men have urged | 6 | /˘···· |
| That when and where ’twas forged | 6 | ······ |
| A marvellous accomplishment, | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| In painting or in pottery, went | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| From father unto son | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And through the centuries ran | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| And seemed unchanging like the sword. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Soul’s beauty being most adored, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Men and their business took | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The soul’s unchanging look; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| For the most rich inheritor, | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Knowing that none could pass heaven’s door | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| That loved inferior art, | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| Had such an aching heart | 6 | ···/˘· |
| That he, although a country’s talk | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For silken clothes and stately walk, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Had waking wits; it seemed | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Juno’s peacock screamed. | 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.