Sailing to Byzantium
That is no country for old men. The youngIn one another’s arms, birds in the trees,--Those dying generations--at their song,The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,Fish flesh or fowl, commend all summer longWhatever is begotten born and dies.Caught in that sensual music all neglectMonuments of unaging intellect.
An aged man is but a paltry thing,A tattered coat upon a stick, unlessSoul clap its hands and sing, and louder singFor every tatter in its mortal dress,Nor is there singing school but studyingMonuments of its own magnificence;And therefore I have sailed the seas and comeTo the holy city of Byzantium.
O sages standing in God’s holy fireAs in the gold mosaic of a wall,Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,And be the singing masters of my soul.Consume my heart away; sick with desireAnd fastened to a dying animalIt knows not what it is; and gather meInto the artifice of eternity.
Once out of nature I shall never takeMy bodily form from any natural thing,But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths makeOf hammered gold and gold enamellingTo keep a drowsy emperor awake;Or set upon a golden bough to singTo lords and ladies of ByzantiumOf what is past, or passing, or to come.
Words in this poem
- tatter n.
- One who makes tatting. Caulfield & S. (Doct. of Needlework).
- magnificence n.
- The act of doing what magnificent; the state or quality of being magnificent. Acts xix. 27. [F. magnificence, L. magnificentia. See Magnific.]
- gyre v. t.
- To turn round; to gyrate. Bp. Hall. Drayton. [Cf. OF. gyrer, girer. See Gyrate.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sailing to Byzantium 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, Sailing to Byzantium, in The Tower (1928), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #72985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-tower/sailing-to-byzantium.html, id L19956.
Form and metre
Sailing to Byzantium is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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-CC young · treesA · songB · seasA · longB · dies · neglectC · intellectC
- 2 ABABA-CC thingA · unlessB · singA · dressB · studyingA · magnificence · comeC · byzantiumC
- 3 ABABAB-- fireA · wallB · gyreA · soulB · desireA · animalB · me · eternity
- 4 ABABABCC takeA · thingB · makeA · enamellingB · awakeA · singB · byzantiumC · comeC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| That is no country for old men. The young | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In one another’s arms, birds in the trees, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| --Those dying generations--at their song, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Fish flesh or fowl, commend all summer long | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Whatever is begotten born and dies. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Caught in that sensual music all neglect | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Monuments of unaging intellect. | 10 | /˘˘····/˘· |
| An aged man is but a paltry thing, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| A tattered coat upon a stick, unless | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For every tatter in its mortal dress, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Nor is there singing school but studying | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Monuments of its own magnificence; | 10 | /˘˘···˘/˘˘ |
| And therefore I have sailed the seas and come | 10 | ·········· |
| To the holy city of Byzantium. | 11 | ··/˘/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| O sages standing in God’s holy fire | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| As in the gold mosaic of a wall, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre, | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| And be the singing masters of my soul. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Consume my heart away; sick with desire | 11 | ˘/··˘/··˘/˘ |
| And fastened to a dying animal | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| It knows not what it is; and gather me | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Into the artifice of eternity. | 11 | ···/˘˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Once out of nature I shall never take | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| My bodily form from any natural thing, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| Of hammered gold and gold enamelling | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| To keep a drowsy emperor awake; | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Or set upon a golden bough to sing | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To lords and ladies of Byzantium | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Of what is past, or passing, or to come. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
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