Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WHEN HELEN LIVED by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Poet Analysis

First Line: WE HAVE CRIED IN OUR DESPAIR / THAT MEN DESERT
Last Line: A WORD AND A JEST.
Subject(s): HELEN OF TROY; MYTHOLOGY - CLASSICAL;
We have cried out in our despair
That men desert,
For some trivial affair
Or noisy, insolent sport,
Beauty that we have won
From bitterest hours;
Yet we, had we walked within
Those topless towers
Where Helen walked with her boy,
Had given but as the rest
Of the men and women of Troy,
A word and a jest.



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