Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A WOMAN OLD AND YOUNG: 3. A FIRST CONFESSION by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Poet Analysis

First Line: I ADMIT THE BRIAR
Last Line: If empty night replies?

I ADMIT the briar
Entangled in my hair
Did not injure me;
My blenching and trembling,
Nothing but dissembling,
Nothing but coquetry.
I long for truth, and yet
I cannot stay from that
My better self disowns,
For a man's attention
Brings such satisfaction
To the craving in my bones.
Brightness that I pull back
From the Zodiac,
Why those questioning eyes
That are fixed upon me?
What can they do but shun me
If empty night replies?




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