A Man Young and Old: 5. the Empty Cup
A Man Young and Old: 5. the Empty Cup - context Summary
Published in the Tower
This short lyric, published in Yeats's 1928 collection The Tower as part of the sequence "A Man Young And Old," stages a compact parable about desire and disappointment. A crazed man fears that a final drink will burst his heart; the speaker finds the cup empty and is left equally maddened and sleepless. The poem compresses fear, loss and frustrated longing into a stark, night-time image.
Read Complete AnalysesA crazy man that found a cup, When all but dead of thirst, Hardly dared to wet his mouth Imagining, moon-accursed, That another mouthful And his beating heart would burst. October last I found it too But found it dry as bone, And for that reason am I crazed And my sleep is gone.
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