![]() ![]() Lastly, alliteration occurs when words are used in succession, or at least appear close together, and begin with the same sound. For example, the transition between lines seven and eight of stanza one as well as lines one and two of stanza two. One has to move forward in order to comfortably resolve a phrase or sentence. Enjambment forces a reader down to the next line, and the next, quickly. ![]() This line leads to a wonderful example of a simile in which the speaker compares the moon to a shell worn smooth by the sea.Įnjambment occurs when a line is cut off before its natural stopping point. The lines read: “We saw the last embers of daylight die, / And in the trembling blue-green of the sky”. There is a good example at the end of the poem when the speaker describes the setting. It is something one can sense with their five senses. Traditionally, the word “image” is related to visual sights, things that a reader can imagine seeing, but imagery is much more than that. The latter, imagery, refers to the elements of a poem that engage a reader’s senses. These include but are not limited to enjambment, alliteration, and imagery. Yeats makes use of several literary devices in ‘Adam’s Curse’. The first of these is unstressed and the second is stressed. This means that each line contains five sets of two beats. This means that either a vowel or consonant sound is reused within one line or multiple lines of verse.Īnother element of heroic couplets is the meter they use, iambic pentameter. Half-rhyme, also known as slant or partial rhyme, is seen through the repetition of assonance or consonance. Some of these rhymes, such as “school” and “beautiful” in stanza one are half-rhymes rather than full, or perfect, rhymes. Yeats makes use of a very simple, and almost entirely consistent rhyme scheme of AABBCC, changing end sounds from line to line. The first two stanzas are fourteen lines long and the third stanza is only eleven. ‘ Adam’s Curse’ by William Butler Yeats is a three- stanza poem that is separated into uneven sets of lines. By the end, Yeats has focused on how time has transformed the way relationships are established and maintained–something he wishes to change. As the poem progresses, other themes, such as those of love and time, come to the forefront. Yeats spends the most time in ‘ Adam’s Curse’ exploring writing, other’s perceptions of writers, and how much easier it would be to just do physically hard work. The latter starts out as the most obvious in the text. As mentioned above, a reader can enjoy exploring those of time, love, and writing. Yeats makes use of a number of important themes in this poem. The poem ends on a solemn note as the speaker reveals his love for the intended listener of the poem. This leads the speaker to consider love and the way love has transformed over the centuries. Then, at least, he wouldn’t have to be called “idle” by schoolmasters and bankers.Īs the poem continues one of the speaker’s companions adds that it is also very hard work to be a woman and be beautiful. He thinks that it would actually be easier to be a laborer. The speaker describes how as a poet no one understands how hard it is to write. Three friends, including the speaker, are outside talking about poetry, hard work, and beauty. ![]() The poem takes place on a summer’s day, awards the end of the season. ‘ Adam’s Curse’ by William Butler Yeats is a moving poem about the presence, or lack thereof, of beauty and true love in the world. There have been lovers who thought love should be So much compounded of high courtesy That they would sigh and quote with learned looks Precedents out of beautiful old books Yet now it seems an idle trade enough.’ Better go down upon your marrow-bones And scrub a kitchen pavement, or break stones Like an old pauper, in all kinds of weather For to articulate sweet sounds together Is to work harder than all these, and yet Be thought an idler by the noisy set Of bankers, schoolmasters, and clergymen The martyrs call the world.’ And thereupon That beautiful mild woman for whose sake There’s many a one shall find out all heartache On finding that her voice is sweet and low Replied, ‘To be born woman is to know- Although they do not talk of it at school- That we must labour to be beautiful.’ I said, ‘It’s certain there is no fine thing Since Adam’s fall but needs much labouring. I said, ‘A line will take us hours maybe Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought, Our stitching and unstitching has been naught. We sat together at one summer’s end, That beautiful mild woman, your close friend, And you and I, and talked of poetry.
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