A Model for the Laureate
About the text
Yeats first published this poem in 1938. It is out of copyright in Ireland and the EU, but in the United States it stays in copyright until the start of 2034, and this site is served partly from American servers. So for now we give the notes without the full text; it will appear here in 2034.
It begins: On thrones from China to Peru
In brief
SummaryA mocking song asking why any decent man keeps his lover waiting.
The poem mocks the kind of verse an official poet writes for royal occasions. Kings of every sort, from China to Peru, have been praised as good and great, and for reasons of state they have kept their lovers waiting. Others rule by force and live at ease, and still keep their lovers waiting. In the last stanza the poet says the Muse falls silent when public men cheer a modern throne, with its bought cheers, office fools, seals and signatures. For things like these, the refrain asks, what decent man would keep his lover waiting.
Lines to remember
The Muse is mute when public men
Line by line
Lines 1 to 8Kings of all sorts
All kinds of kings, from China to Peru, have been hailed as good and great. The speaker shrugs: what does it matter if such men keep their lovers waiting for reasons of state. The refrain enters, repeated like a music-hall chorus.
Lines 9 to 16Rulers by force
Some praise beggar-kings and rogues who rule by a strong right arm and fear, who live as they please, drunk or sober, and whom no one dares contradict. They too keep their lovers waiting.
Lines 17 to 24The Muse is mute
Now the tone hardens. When public men applaud a modern throne, the Muse has nothing to say: the cheers are bought and sold, the offices run by fools, all wax seals and signatures. The refrain turns into a real question: what decent man would put these before love.
Themes
Love and power
The refrain sets private love against public duty. For old kings, keeping a lover waiting was the price of rule. By the last stanza the balance tips: a modern throne of paperwork and bought applause is not worth that price, and a "decent man" would choose love.
Official poetry
The title offers a "model" to the Poet Laureate, the poet paid to write for royal events. Yeats's model refuses to flatter. "The Muse is mute" when public men cheer, so true poetry cannot be ordered up for state occasions.
Context
The poem was first published in New Poems (Cuala Press, Dublin, 1938). It is widely read as a response to the abdication of Edward VIII in December 1936, when the king gave up the throne to marry Wallis Simpson; the last stanza sides with the man who would not keep his lover waiting.
The title jabs at the Poet Laureate, who was expected to mark such royal events in verse. Yeats offers his own ironic "model" instead.
Form
Three stanzas of eight lines in short ballad lines, with a two-line refrain that changes slightly each time: a question, then a statement, then a pointed question about "his lover". The jaunty song form makes the political point sound like a tavern chorus.
