The Blessed
Cumhal called out, bending his head,Till Dathi came and stood,With a blink in his eyes at the cave mouth,Between the wind and the wood.
And Cumhal said, bending his knees,'I have come by the windy way'To gather the half of your blessedness'And learn to pray when you pray.
'I can bring you salmon out of the streams'And heron out of the skies.'But Dathi folded his hands and smiledWith the secrets of God in his eyes.
And Cumhal saw like a drifting smokeAll manner of blessed souls,Women and children, young men with books,And old men with croziers and stoles.
'Praise God and God's mother,' Dathi said,'For God and God's mother have sent'The blessedest souls that walk in the world'To fill your heart with content.'
'And which is the blessedest,' Cumhal said,'Where all are comely and good?'Is it these that with golden thuribles'Are singing about the wood?'
'My eyes are blinking,' Dathi said,'With the secrets of God half blind,'But I can see where the wind goes'And follow the way of the wind;
'And blessedness goes where the wind goes,'And when it is gone we are dead;'I see the blessedest soul in the world'And he nods a drunken head.
'O blessedness comes in the night and the day'And whither the wise heart knows;'And one has seen in the redness of wine'The Incorruptible Rose,
'That drowsily drops faint leaves on him'And the sweetness of desire,'While time and the world are ebbing away'In twilights of dew and of fire.'
Words in this poem
- blink v. i.
- To wink; to twinkle with, or as with, the eye. [OE. blenken; akin to dan. blinke, Sw. blinka, G. blinken to shine, glance, wink, twinkle, D. blinken to shine; and prob. to D. blikken to glance, twinkle, G. bl]
- blessedness n.
- The state of being blessed; happiness; felicity; bliss; heavenly joys; the favor of God.
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
- drowsily adv.
- In a drowsy manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Blessed is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Wind Among the Reeds, Project Gutenberg ebook #32233; 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 Blessed, in The Wind Among the Reeds (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32233, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-wind-among-reeds/the-blessed.html, id L04540.
Form and metre
The Blessed is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 35% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 head · stoodA · mouth · woodA
- 2 -A-A knees · wayA · blessedness · prayA
- 3 -A-A streams · skiesA · smiled · eyesA
- 4 -A-A smoke · soulsA · books · stolesA
- 5 -A-A said · sentA · world · contentA
- 6 -A-A said · goodA · thuribles · woodA
- 7 -A-A said · blindA · goes · windA
- 8 -A-A goes · deadA · world · headA
- 9 -A-A day · knowsA · wine · roseA
- 10 -A-A him · desireA · away · fireA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cumhal called out, bending his head, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Till Dathi came and stood, | 6 | ······ |
| With a blink in his eyes at the cave mouth, | 10 | ·········· |
| Between the wind and the wood. | 7 | ······· |
| And Cumhal said, bending his knees, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| 'I have come by the windy way | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'To gather the half of your blessedness | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| 'And learn to pray when you pray. | 7 | ······· |
| 'I can bring you salmon out of the streams | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| 'And heron out of the skies.' | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| But Dathi folded his hands and smiled | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| With the secrets of God in his eyes. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| And Cumhal saw like a drifting smoke | 9 | ······/˘· |
| All manner of blessed souls, | 7 | ·/˘··˘· |
| Women and children, young men with books, | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| And old men with croziers and stoles. | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| 'Praise God and God's mother,' Dathi said, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| 'For God and God's mother have sent | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| 'The blessedest souls that walk in the world | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| 'To fill your heart with content.' | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| 'And which is the blessedest,' Cumhal said, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| 'Where all are comely and good? | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| 'Is it these that with golden thuribles | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| 'Are singing about the wood?' | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| 'My eyes are blinking,' Dathi said, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'With the secrets of God half blind, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| 'But I can see where the wind goes | 8 | ········ |
| 'And follow the way of the wind; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'And blessedness goes where the wind goes, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'And when it is gone we are dead; | 8 | ········ |
| 'I see the blessedest soul in the world | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| 'And he nods a drunken head. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| 'O blessedness comes in the night and the day | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| 'And whither the wise heart knows; | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| 'And one has seen in the redness of wine | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| 'The Incorruptible Rose, | 7 | ·/˘˘˘˘· |
| 'That drowsily drops faint leaves on him | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| 'And the sweetness of desire, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| 'While time and the world are ebbing away | 10 | ······/˘˘/ |
| 'In twilights of dew and of fire.' | 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.