Selection of poems by W. B. Yeats

Quotes from selected poems by W.B. Yeats

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  • Created by: Tassawar
  • Created on: 30-04-13 09:21

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

"I will arise and go now"

"small cabin build"

"of clay and wattles"

"Nine bean-rows"

"a hive for the honey-bee...live alone in the bee-loud glade"

"I shall have some peace there"

"peace comes dropping slow...dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings"

"midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow"

"evening full of linnet wings"

"lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore"

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The Lake Isle of Innisfree

"I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore"

"While I stand on the roadway....pavements grey"

"I hear it in the deep heart's core"

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The Wild Swans at Coole

"Trees are in their autumn beauty"

"Under the October Twilight"

"Upon the brimming water among the stones"

"Nine-and-fifty swans"

"Nineteenth autumn has come upon me        Since I first made my count"

"All suddenly mount"

"great broken rings"

"clamorous wings"

"now my heart is sore"

"All's changed since I...the first time on this shore"

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The Wild Swans at Coole

"bell-beat of their wings"

"Trod with a lighter tread"

"Unwearied still, lover by lover"

"Their hearts have not grown old"

"Passion or conquest"

"Drift on the still water, Mysterious, beautiful"

"Delight men's eyes when I awake some day"

"To find they have flown away?" 

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An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

"I know that I shall meet my fate Somewhere among the clouds above"

"Those that I fight I do not hate Those that I guard I do not love"

"My country is Kiltartan Cross, My countrymen Kiltartan's poor"

"No likely end could bring them loss Or leave them happier than before"

"Nor law, nor duty bade me fight, Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,"

"A lonely impulse of delight Drove to this tumult in the clouds"

"I balanced all, brought all to mind"

"The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath they years behind"

"In balance with this life, this death"

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Easter 1916

"close of day"

"vivid faces"

"From counter or desk grey"

"I have passed with a nod of the hear Or polite meaningless words"

"Or have lingered awhile and said Polite meaningless words"

"Of a mocking tale or gibe To please a companion"

"All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born."

"ignorant good-will,"

"What voice more sweet than hers When, young and beautiful, She rode to harriers?"

"He might have won fame in the end"

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Easter 1916

"So sensitive...so daring and sweet"

"A drunken, vainglorious lout"

"done most bitter wrong To some who are near my heart"

"He, too, has resigned his part In the casual comedy"

"Transformed utterly: A terrible beauty is born"

"Hearts with one purpose alone"

"Enchanted to a stone"

"To trouble the living stream. The horse that comes from the road, The rider, the birds that range From cloud to tumbling cloud"

"Minute by minute"

"Changes minute by minute"

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Easter 1916

"Minute by minute they live: The stone's in the midst of all"

"Too long a sacrifice Can make a stone of the heart."

"O when may it suffice?"

"To murmur name upon name, As a mother names her child"

"When sleep at last has come"

"No, no, not night but death;"

"Was it needless death after all?"

"We know their dream; enough To know they dreamed and are dead;

"MacDonagh and MacBride And Connolly and Pearse"

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Leda and the Swan

"A sudden blow: the great wings beating still"

"staggering girl, her thighs caressed"

"dark webs, her nape caught in his bill"

"helpless breast upon his breast."

"How can those terrified vague fingers push The feathered glory from her loosening thighs."

"body, laid in the white rush....feel the strange heart beating where it lies?"

"A shudder in the loins engenders there The broken wall, the burning roof"

"And Agamemnon dead."

"So mastered by the brute blood of the air, Did she put on his knowledge with his power"

"Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?"

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