Structure & Form of Yeats' Poetry

The Stolen Child
1. ABAB AABB rhyme scheme
  1. ABAB creates soft, lyrical, lilting tone but AABB shows form of a Clerihew - rhymes often forced
2. Folkloric monologue by Faery to Human Child to persuade him to go with the Faery
September 1913
1. Ballad with clear chorus - mockery, sarcastic
2. Simple ABAB to put out strong political message
3. Popular form in Irish Culture
The Cold Heaven
1. Quatrains to symbolise regularity and tedium of age
2. Half rhyming ABAB rhyme scheme shows confusion of Yeats
The Wild Swans At Coole
1. ABCBDD rhyme structure is rhythmically disturbed flow - Yeats is pleased with nature but displeased with his own life
2. Rhyming couplets in every stanza represent Swans and partners, accentuate Yeats' lonliness
3. It's almost a Sestina but has 5 stanzas instead of 6, showing loneliness
An Irish Airman Forsees His Death
1. ABAB Quatrains shows regularity, dull life and inevitability of death
2. Elegiac
The Fisherman
1. ABABCDCD is Shakespearean Sonnet, emphasising love for the Fisherman
2. 6-7 syllables per line - Fisherman's small emphasis to society
Broken Dreams
1. Prosaic
2. Stream of Consciousness represents raw emotion
The Cat and the Moon
1. 28 lines represents 28 phases of the Moon
2. Rhythmically structured to symbolise Waltz dance
3. Ballad - highly emotive
The Second Coming
1. Free Verse - chaotic, lack of control
2. Prosaic - rushing thoughts
Sailing to Byzantium
1. Lyric poem - expresses Yeats' strong emotion
2. Corruputed Ottava Rima - an epic, but with twisted half-rhyme so characteristics of it reinforces content
Among School Children
1. Ottava Rima represents regularity of school routine
2. Continually changes in rhyme scheme, Yeats questioning philosophy of life
In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz
1. ABAB connotes Mantra in last stanza
2. No particular rhyme scheme or structure represents the familiarity with the sisters and informality of friendship
Leda and the Swan
1. Petrarchan Sonnet
  1. Octave introduces problem but against tradition Sestet doesn't solve it, signifying the problem hasn't been solved, it's permanently broken, leaving audience still wondering
  2. Written in traditional rhyme scheme but events are a stark contrast against the usual topics of sonnets
2. Quatrains until Sestet where structure is broken, signifies destruction
The Man and the Echo
1. Simplistic rhyming couplets - simplicity, regularity of death
2. Dialogue between Yeats and his haunting past, a shadow
3. AABB shows form of Clerihew, rhymes are often forced, Yeats is being forced to reflect in order to understand afterlife
Easter 1916
1. 2nd and 4th stanza are 24 lines long to represent 24th April
2. ABAB structure - Yeats varies rhyme to emphasise certain parts of the poem's content and significance
3. Maintains a consistency in form, showing unity
4. 1st and 3rd stanza are 16 lines long to represent 1916
5. 4 stanzas to show the four months of April

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Structure & Form of Yeats' Poetry

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	Created by Lily Hollowbread about 11 years ago