A Nativity

WHAT woman hugs her infant there?
Another star has shot an ear.
What made the drapery glisten so?
Not a man but Delacroix.
What made the ceiling waterproof?
Landor's tarpaulin on the roof
What brushes fly and moth aside?
Irving and his plume of pride.
What hurries out the knaye and dolt?
Talma and his thunderbolt.
Why is the woman terror-struck?
Can there be mercy in that look?
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats, (born June 13, 1865, Sandymount, Dublin, Ireland—died January 28, 1939, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France), Irish poet, dramatist, and prose writer, one of the greatest English-language poets of the 20th century. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. He was appointed to the Irish Senate in 1922. Yeats is one of the few writers whose greatest works were written after the award of the Nobel Prize. Whereas he received the Prize chiefly for his dramatic works, his significance today rests on his lyric achievement. His poetry, especially the volumes The Wild Swans at Coole (1919), Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921), The Tower (1928), The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933), and Last Poems and Plays (1940), made him one of the outstanding and most influential twentieth-century poets writing in English. His recurrent themes are the contrast of art and life, masks, cyclical theories of life (the symbol of the winding stairs), and the ideal of beauty and ceremony contrasting with the hubbub of modern life.

More poems from same author

A Song From 'The Player Queen' A Drinking Song A Man Young And Old: III. The Mermaid A Man Young And Old: VII. The Friends Of His Youth A Man Young And Old: XI. From Oedipus At Colonus

Unlock the Power of Language & AI

Benefit from dictionaries, spell checkers, and character recognizers. A revolutionary step for students, teachers, researchers, and professionals from various fields and industries.

Lughaat

Empower the academic and research process through various Pakistani and international dictionaries.

Explore

Spell Checker

Detect and correct spelling mistakes across multiple languages.

Try Now

OCR

Convert images to editable text using advanced OCR technology.

Use OCR