The poem
Would I could cast a sad on the water Where many a king has gone And many a king's daughter, And alight at the comely trees and the lawn, The playing upon pipes and the dancing, And learn that the best thing is To change my loves while dancing And pay but a kiss for a kiss. I would find by the edge of that water The collar-bone of a hare Worn thin by the lapping of water, And pierce it through with a gimlet, and stare At the old bitter world where they marry in churches, And laugh over the untroubled water At all who marry in churches, Through the white thin bone of a hare.
Line 1 should read "sail", not "sad".
Also, the poem is in two stanzas, with a break after
"And pay but a kiss for a kiss".
Obviously posting these poems is just a way to sell
advertising, since not the slightest care is taken.
These days everyone is prepared to "break in bits the famous ivories / Or traffic in the grasshoppers or bees" just to make a buck.
In my opinion this poem is a cynic commentary on love and marriage. Yeats takes us on a voyage where the most powerful citizens of the world have passed to alight in a very calm and orderly place of merriment to let us know that he has learned that love should be fleeting, should last just the time of a kiss. Here his deep feelings of love are expressed. Was he hurt by one of his loves, one can ask. The object he…
Read the whole commentIn my opinion this poem is a cynic commentary on love and marriage. Yeats takes us on a voyage where the most powerful citizens of the world have passed to alight in a very calm and orderly place of merriment to let us know that he has learned that love should be fleeting, should last just the time of a kiss. Here his deep feelings of love are expressed. Was he hurt by one of his loves, one can ask. The object he chooses to pierce and look at marriage in churches, is a worn collar-bone of a hare - a small bit of used and honed thin object through which he sees the old bitter world and to laugh at all who marry in churches. One gets the impression that he scoffs at love and marriage, not worth much for him. It's a very good way to describe one's anger and hurt. Does anyone share the same opinion.