Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ANOTHER SONG OF A FOOL by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Poet Analysis

First Line: THIS GREAT PURPLE BUTTERFLY
Last Line: TO TAKE THE ROSES FOR HIS MEAT.
Subject(s): WISDOM; LEARNING; FOOLS;
THIS great purple butterfly,
In the prison of my hands,
Has a learning in his eye
Not a poor fool understands.

Once he lived a schoolmaster
With a stark, denying look;
A string of scholars went in fear
Of his great birch and his great book.

Like the clangour of a bell,
Sweet and harsh, harsh and sweet,
That is how he learnt so well
To take the roses for his meat.



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