The Cap and Bells
The jester walked in the garden:The garden had fallen still;He bade his soul rise upwardAnd stand on her window-sill.
It rose in a straight blue garment,When owls began to call:It had grown wise-tongued by thinkingOf a quiet and light footfall;
But the young queen would not listen;She rose in her pale night gown;She drew in the heavy casementAnd pushed the latches down.
He bade his heart go to her,When the owls called out no more;In a red and quivering garmentIt sang to her through the door.
It had grown sweet-tongued by dreaming,Of a flutter of flower-like hair;But she took up her fan from the tableAnd waved it off on the air.
'I have cap and bells,' he pondered,'I will send them to her and die;'And when the morning whitenedHe left them where she went by.
She laid them upon her bosom,Under a cloud of her hair,And her red lips sang them a love song:Till stars grew out of the air.
She opened her door and her window,And the heart and the soul came through,To her right hand came the red one,To her left hand came the blue.
They set up a noise like crickets,A chattering wise and sweet,And her hair was a folded flowerAnd the quiet of love in her feet.
Words in this poem
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- footfall n.
- A setting down of the foot; a footstep; the sound of a footstep.
- casement n.
- A window sash opening on hinges affixed to the upright side of the frame into which it is fitted. (Poetically) A window. [Shortened fr. encasement. See Incase 1st Case, and cf. Incasement.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- chattering n.
- The act or habit of talking idly or rapidly, or of making inarticulate sounds; the sounds so made; noise made by the collision of the teeth; chatter.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Cap and Bells 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 Cap and Bells, in The Wind Among the Reeds (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32233, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-wind-among-reeds/the-cap-and-bells.html, id L04533.
Form and metre
The Cap and Bells is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 15 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 garden · stillA · upward · sillA
- 2 -A-A garment · callA · thinking · footfallA
- 3 AA-A listenA · gownA · casement · downA
- 4 -A-A her · moreA · garment · doorA
- 5 -A-A dreaming · hairA · table · airA
- 6 -A-A pondered · dieA · whitened · byA
- 7 -A-A bosom · hairA · song · airA
- 8 -A-A window · throughA · one · blueA
- 9 -A-A crickets · sweetA · flower · feetA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The jester walked in the garden: | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| The garden had fallen still; | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| He bade his soul rise upward | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And stand on her window-sill. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| It rose in a straight blue garment, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| When owls began to call: | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| It had grown wise-tongued by thinking | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Of a quiet and light footfall; | 8 | ··/˘··/· |
| But the young queen would not listen; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| She rose in her pale night gown; | 7 | ······· |
| She drew in the heavy casement | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And pushed the latches down. | 7 | ··˘·/˘· |
| He bade his heart go to her, | 7 | ······· |
| When the owls called out no more; | 8 | ····˘··· |
| In a red and quivering garment | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| It sang to her through the door. | 7 | ······· |
| It had grown sweet-tongued by dreaming, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Of a flutter of flower-like hair; | 8 | ··/˘·/·· |
| But she took up her fan from the table | 10 | ········/˘ |
| And waved it off on the air. | 8 | ··˘····· |
| 'I have cap and bells,' he pondered, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| 'I will send them to her and die;' | 8 | ········ |
| And when the morning whitened | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| He left them where she went by. | 7 | ······· |
| She laid them upon her bosom, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Under a cloud of her hair, | 7 | ······· |
| And her red lips sang them a love song: | 9 | ········· |
| Till stars grew out of the air. | 7 | ······· |
| She opened her door and her window, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| And the heart and the soul came through, | 8 | ········ |
| To her right hand came the red one, | 8 | ········ |
| To her left hand came the blue. | 7 | ······· |
| They set up a noise like crickets, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| A chattering wise and sweet, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| And her hair was a folded flower | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| And the quiet of love in her feet. | 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.