Under the Round Tower
'Although I'd lie lapped up in linenA deal I'd sweat and little earnIf I should live as live the neighbours,'Cried the beggar, Billy Byrne;'Stretch bones till the daylight comeOn great-grandfather's battered tomb.'
Upon a grey old battered tombstoneIn Glendalough beside the stream,Where the O'Byrnes and Byrnes are buried,He stretched his bones and fell in a dreamOf sun and moon that a good hourBellowed and pranced in the round tower;Of golden king and silver lady,Bellowing up and bellowing round,Till toes mastered a sweet measure,Mouth mastered a sweet sound,Prancing round and prancing upUntil they pranced upon the top.
That golden king and that wild ladySang till stars began to fade,Hands gripped in hands, toes close together,Hair spread on the wind they made;That lady and that golden kingCould like a brace of blackbirds sing.
'It's certain that my luck is broken,'That rambling jailbird Billy said;'Before nightfall I'll pick a pocketAnd snug it in a feather-bed,I cannot find the peace of homeOn great-grandfather's battered tomb.'
Words in this poem
- billy n.
- A club; esp., a policeman's club.
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- tombstone n.
- A stone erected over a grave, to preserve the memory of the deceased.
- nightfall n.
- The close of the day.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Under the Round Tower is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Wild Swans at Coole, Project Gutenberg ebook #32491; 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, Under the Round Tower, in The Wild Swans at Coole (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32491, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-wild-swans/under-the-round-tower.html, id L20003.
Form and metre
Under the Round Tower is 30 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 AA-A-- linenA · earnA · neighbours · byrneA · come · tomb
- 2 -A-ABB-C-C-- tombstone · streamA · buried · dreamA · hourB · towerB · lady · roundC · measure · soundC · up · top
- 3 -A-ABB lady · fadeA · together · madeA · kingB · singB
- 4 -A-A-- broken · saidA · pocket · bedA · home · 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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| 'Although I'd lie lapped up in linen | 10 | ·····˘··/˘ |
| A deal I'd sweat and little earn | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| If I should live as live the neighbours,' | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Cried the beggar, Billy Byrne; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| 'Stretch bones till the daylight come | 7 | ····/·· |
| On great-grandfather's battered tomb.' | 9 | ··/·˘/˘˘· |
| Upon a grey old battered tombstone | 10 | ·····/˘˘/· |
| In Glendalough beside the stream, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Where the O'Byrnes and Byrnes are buried, | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| He stretched his bones and fell in a dream | 10 | ··˘······· |
| Of sun and moon that a good hour | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Bellowed and pranced in the round tower; | 10 | /˘˘·····/˘ |
| Of golden king and silver lady, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Bellowing up and bellowing round, | 9 | /˘˘··/˘˘· |
| Till toes mastered a sweet measure, | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| Mouth mastered a sweet sound, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Prancing round and prancing up | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Until they pranced upon the top. | 9 | ····˘···· |
| That golden king and that wild lady | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Sang till stars began to fade, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Hands gripped in hands, toes close together, | 10 | ··˘····˘/˘ |
| Hair spread on the wind they made; | 7 | ······· |
| That lady and that golden king | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Could like a brace of blackbirds sing. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'It's certain that my luck is broken,' | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| That rambling jailbird Billy said; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| 'Before nightfall I'll pick a pocket | 9 | ··/····/˘ |
| And snug it in a feather-bed, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I cannot find the peace of home | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| On great-grandfather's battered tomb.' | 9 | ··/·˘/˘˘· |
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.