Sunday 5 April 2015

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS: A POEM FOR EASTER

I believe I discovered this poem in my senior year high school English class, though I can't imagine it was in any of our textbooks, so it might not have been until college.  It was definitely in college, however, that I discovered Yeats' biography, and especially given his relationship to Maud Gonne, it gave a me a whole new perspective on this poem. An added, if shallow, dimension. So for your Easter edification, what I consider Yeats' ultimate take on the whole thing...

A STICK OF INCENSE
by William Butler Yeats

Whence did all that fury come?
From empty tomb or Virgin womb?
Saint Joseph thought the world would melt
But liked the way his finger smelt.

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