The Rose of the World
The Rose of the World - context Summary
Published in 1893, the Rose
Published in the 1893 collection The Rose, Yeats’s "The Rose of the World" belongs to his early romantic and mystical phase. The short lyric contrasts the transience of beauty and great civilizations with a singular, enduring feminine presence. It draws on mythic names (Troy, Usna) and celestial figures to suggest that while worlds and peoples pass, a solitary, compassionate idealized woman remains—elevated by angelic reverence and timeless imagination.
Read Complete AnalysesWho dreamed that beauty passes like a dream? For these red lips, with all their mournful pride, Mournful that no new wonder may betide, Troy passed away in one high funeral gleam, And Usna's children died. We and the labouring world are passing by: Amid men's souls, that waver and give place Like the pale waters in their wintry race, Under the passing stars, foam of the sky, Lives on this lonely face. Bow down, archangels, in your dim abode: Before you were, or any hearts to beat, Weary and kind one lingered by His seat; He made the world to be a grassy road Before her wandering feet.
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