Closing Rhyme

W. B. Yeatsfirst published 1914from Responsibilities14 lines

Earlier titled "Closing Rhymes"

While I, from that reed-throated whispererWho comes at need, although not now as onceA clear articulation in the airBut inwardly, surmise companionsBeyond the fling of the dull ass’s hoof,—Ben Jonson’s phrase⁠—and find when June is comeAt Kyle-na-no under that ancient roofA sterner conscience and a friendlier home,I can forgive even that wrong of wrongs,Those undreamt accidents that have made me—Seeing that Fame has perished this long whileBeing but a part of ancient ceremony⁠—Notorious, till all my priceless thingsAre but a post the passing dogs defile.

Text: Poetry, by W. B. Yeats (Standard Ebooks, 2024), from the collected editions of 1908 to 1928. Public domain.

In brief

Summary

A poet shrugs off public notoriety, sheltered by his Muse and Coole.

The poem is one long sentence. While the poet still hears his inner Muse, the "reed-throated whisperer" who now speaks inwardly rather than aloud, and imagines companions beyond the kick of "the dull ass's hoof", and while he finds each June at Kyle-na-no "A sterner conscience and a friendlier home", he can forgive even the worst wrong done to him. That wrong is the chance events that have made him notorious, until all his most precious things are only "a post the passing dogs defile". True fame, he says, died long ago with ancient ceremony; what is left is mere notoriety.

Lines to remember

A sterner conscience and a friendlier home,

Are but a post the passing dogs defile.

Line by line

Lines 1 to 5The inner voice
The "reed-throated whisperer" is his Muse, whose voice was once "A clear articulation in the air" and now comes "inwardly". Through it he can imagine companions beyond the reach of "the dull ass's hoof", out of range of stupid critics.
Lines 6 to 8June at Kyle-na-no
He credits the ass's hoof to "Ben Jonson's phrase", borrowing an older poet's scorn. At Kyle-na-no, "under that ancient roof", he finds "A sterner conscience and a friendlier home": a place that both disciplines and welcomes him.
Lines 9 to 14The post the dogs defile
Sheltered by these, he "can forgive even that wrong of wrongs", the "undreamt accidents" that have made him "Notorious". The bracketed aside explains that real fame perished long ago. The last line is savage: his "priceless things" become a post for passing dogs.

Themes

Fame and notoriety

The poem separates fame, which "has perished this long while" with "ancient ceremony", from mere notoriety, which comes by "undreamt accidents". Public attention does not honour his work; it degrades it, turning "priceless things" into "a post the passing dogs defile".

Refuge

Against the public world stand two refuges: the inward voice of the Muse and the "ancient roof" at Kyle-na-no. The phrase "A sterner conscience and a friendlier home" shows what the second gives him: not just comfort, but standards to live up to.

Context

This was the last poem in Responsibilities (Cuala Press, 1914), where it answers the "Introductory Rhymes" at the start of the book; it has also appeared as "Closing Rhymes". Kyle-na-no is one of the Seven Woods of Coole Park, Lady Gregory's estate in County Galway, where Yeats spent his summers.

The "wrong of wrongs" is not named. It is usually read as a reply to George Moore, whose memoirs mocked Yeats publicly around this time. Ben Jonson (1572 to 1637), the English poet and playwright, is quoted as a fellow writer who scorned his critics.

Form

Fourteen lines of five-beat verse, the length of a sonnet, in one winding sentence. The first eight lines rhyme alternately ("whisperer" and "air", "hoof" and "roof"), some only loosely ("once" and "companions"); the last six rhyme more freely. The long delay before "I can forgive" makes the final insult land hard.