Words
Words - fact Summary
Collected in the Wild Swans
This short lyric appears in The Wild Swans at Coole and records Yeats’s recurring anxiety about being understood by his partner. He moves between despair and renewed confidence, claiming past efforts to make meaning plain and imagining a moment when words would "obey" him. The poem doubles as a personal admission about marital communication and a reflection on the poet’s control, or lack of control, over language.
Read Complete AnalysesI had this thought a while ago, 'My darling cannot understand What I have done, or what would do In this blind bitter land.' And I grew weary of the sun Until my thoughts cleared up again, Remembering that the best I have done Was done to make it plain; That every year I have cried, 'At length My darling understands it all, Because I have come into my strength, And words obey my call'; That had she done so who can say What would have shaken from the sieve? I might have thrown poor words away And been content to live.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.