A Woman Homer Sung by W.B. Yeats
The work reflects on the transformation of youthful passion and admiration into a mature, reflective sense of poetic creation. The speaker recalls a time when, in earlier years, he observed a strikingly powerful woman whose very presence sparked intense feelings—both in herself and in those who encountered her. In her, youthful love and admiration were intermingled with an almost tangible vitality, a quality that made her appear as an embodiment of heroic myth, transcending everyday existence. In the speaker’s youth, any man who approached her was assumed to harbor deep affection, and the intensity of that connection was marked by both reverence and a touch of resentment, as if driven by untamed emotion. Her demeanor and the aura of passion she exuded inspired not only personal feelings but also a creative impulse in the speaker. This creative impulse was dedicated to capturing the essence of her spirited nature through writing—a record of her impact on him. As the speaker advanced in age and his youthful passions gave way to a more somber awareness, the earlier vivid impressions of her began to transform. What once was an unmistakable dynamism had become idealized, crystallized in memory and in the symbolic act of reproduction through verse. The work suggests that, in later years, the attempt to capture her essence resulted in a reflection—a sort of artistic mirror—that rendered her not as she was alive and vibrant, but as an image, a shadow of the original fervor. The narrative thus moves from a direct, immediate experience of an insatiably passionate woman to a more measured, contemplative inquiry into the nature of memory and poetic representation. It explores the inevitable distance that time creates between the living, dynamic presence and its immortalization in art. In effect, life and art are portrayed as intertwined realms where the heroic and the ephemeral coalesce; the creative act transforms a personal and intense relationship with beauty into an enduring, yet inherently distanced, celebration of it. The work ultimately contemplates the paradox of artistic creation: the desire to capture and eternalize a fleeting, passionate moment against the reality that art, by its very nature, is only a shadow or reflection of the true, lived experience.
By W.B. Yeats · First published 1921 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Symbolist Poetry, Mythological Poetry · 178 words
First lines
If any man drew near / When I was young, / I thought, "He holds her dear," / And shook with hate and fear. / But oh, 'twas bitter wrong / If he could pass her by / With an indifferent eye.
Whereon I wrote and wrought, / And now, being gray, / I dream that I have brought / To such a pitch my thought / That coming time can say, / "He shadowed in a glass / What thing her body was."
For she had fiery blood / When I was young, / And trod so sweetly proud / As 'twere upon a cloud, / A woman Homer sung, / That life and letters seem / But an heroic dream.
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A Woman Homer Sung is listed on Textopian as a poem by W.B. Yeats, dated 1921 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: W.B. Yeats
- Date: 1921 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Symbolist Poetry, Mythological Poetry, Elegiac Poetry, Romantic Poetry
- Length: 178 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The poem expresses personal introspection and emotion in a compact, musical form typical of lyric poetry.
- Symbolist Poetry — It employs layered imagery and allusion to delve into abstract ideas, echoing the techniques of Symbolist poetry.
- Mythological Poetry — The invocation of Homer and classical figures situates the work within a mythological framework.
- Elegiac Poetry — The reflective tone on youth and the passage of time aligns with themes found in elegiac poetry.
Tags
poetry · literature · mythology · feminism · modernism · symbolism · lyricism · epic influence · classical themes · narrative · cultural critique · reimagining