To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing
To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing - meaning Summary
Triumph Versus Secret Defeat
Yeats addresses an artist or friend whose work has failed, advising dignified silence rather than public complaint. He contrasts honourable restraint with brazen success built on falsehood, arguing that true integrity means accepting defeat inwardly. Secrecy becomes a form of triumph: to "be secret and exult" is to preserve moral worth where ordinary victory cannot. The poem values inner resilience and artistic honesty over public acclaim.
Read Complete AnalysesNow all the truth is out, Be secret and take defeat From any brazen throat, For how can you compete, Being honour bred, with one Who, were it proved he lies, Were neither shamed in his own Nor in his neighbours' eyes? Bred to a harder thing Than Triumph, turn away And like a laughing string Whereon mad fingers play Amid a place of stone, Be secret and exult, Because of all things known That is most difficult.
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