Upon a House Shaken by the Land Agitation
Upon a House Shaken by the Land Agitation - meaning Summary
Cultural Loss Versus Practical Gain
Yeats imagines a house threatened by "land agitation" as more than shelter: it is a creative center where passion and precision produced visionary, sun‑loving sight and "eagle thoughts." The poem asks whether demolishing such a place yields any true benefit to the world or to those who inherit sturdier roofs, and whether worldly gain can match later cultural gifts — a crafted, laughing speech of beauty and ease.
Read Complete AnalysesHow should the world be luckier if this house, Where passion and precision have been one Time out of mind, became too ruinous To breed the lidleSs eye that loves the sun? And the sweet laughing eagle thoughts that grow Where wings have memory of wings, and all That comes of the best knit to the best? Although Mean roof-trees were the sturdier for its fall. How should their luck run high enough to reach The gifts that govern men, and after these To gradual Time's last gift, a written speech Wrought of high laughter, loveliness and ease?
Feel free to be first to leave comment.