The Three Monuments
They hold their public meetings whereOur most renowned patriots stand,One among the birds of the air,A stumpier on either hand;And all the popular statesmen sayThat purity built up the stateAnd after kept it from decay;Admonish us to cling to thatAnd let all base ambition be,For intellect would make us proudAnd pride bring in impurity:The three old rascals laugh aloud.
Words in this poem
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Three Monuments 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, The Three Monuments, in The Tower (1928), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #72985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-tower/the-three-monuments.html, id L19991.
Form and metre
The Three Monuments is 12 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 ABABC-C--D-D whereA · standB · airA · handB · sayC · state · decayC · that · be · proudD · impurity · aloudD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| They hold their public meetings where | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Our most renowned patriots stand, | 8 | /·˘//˘˘· |
| One among the birds of the air, | 8 | ········ |
| A stumpier on either hand; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And all the popular statesmen say | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| That purity built up the state | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And after kept it from decay; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Admonish us to cling to that | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| And let all base ambition be, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| For intellect would make us proud | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And pride bring in impurity: | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| The three old rascals laugh aloud. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
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.