Her Courage

W. B. Yeatsfirst published 1917from The Wild Swans at Coole10 lines

When her soul flies to the predestined dancing-place(I have no speech but symbol, the pagan speech I madeAmid the dreams of youth) let her come face to face,Amid that first astonishment, with Grania’s shadeAll but the perils of the woodland flight forgotThat made her Dermuid dear, and some old cardinalPacing with half-closed eyelids in a sunny spotWho had murmured of Giorgione at his latest breath⁠—Aye and Achilles, Timor, Babar, Barhaim allWho have lived in joy and laughed into the face of Death.

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

In brief

Summary

The poet imagines the dying lady joining the joyful dead.

The poet imagines the moment her soul reaches "the predestined dancing-place" after death. Apologising that he has only symbols to speak with, the pagan language of his youth, he wishes that she will meet there Grania, who forgot everything of her flight through the woods except what made Dermuid dear, and an old cardinal who spoke of Giorgione with his last breath. The list widens to Achilles and the great conquerors Timor, Babar and Barhaim: all those who lived in joy and "laughed into the face of Death".

Lines to remember

I have no speech but symbol, the pagan speech I made

Who have lived in joy and laughed into the face of Death.

Line by line

Lines 1 to 3The dancing-place
The afterlife is a "dancing-place", a joyful image. In brackets the poet admits "I have no speech but symbol", the "pagan speech" of his early poems, as if apologising that his faith is not hers.
Lines 4 to 6Grania's shade
He hopes she will meet Grania, the Irish heroine who eloped with Dermuid. In the afterlife Grania has forgotten all "the perils of the woodland flight" except the love that made the flight worthwhile.
Lines 7 to 8The old cardinal
The "old cardinal" named at the end of line 6 paces "in a sunny spot" with half-closed eyes. He "had murmured of Giorgione at his latest breath": a churchman whose last thought was of a painter. Like her, he loved beauty to the end.
Lines 9 to 10Laughing at Death
The list bursts outward to heroes and conquerors, "Achilles, Timor, Babar, Barhaim all". What unites them is the last line: they "lived in joy and laughed into the face of Death".

Themes

Courage before death

The title is "Her Courage", and the poem defines it by the company she will keep. Lovers, a cardinal, warriors and emperors are all people who "laughed into the face of Death". Her gaiety at her bedside is placed among the great examples of fearless living.

Symbol and belief

The bracket in lines 2 and 3 is a striking confession: "I have no speech but symbol, the pagan speech I made / Amid the dreams of youth". He does not borrow the language of her faith; instead he offers the dying lady the only heaven his own symbols can make, one of joy and dance.

Context

This is the sixth poem of "Upon a Dying Lady", collected in The Wild Swans at Coole (Cuala Press, 1917). The lady is usually identified as Mabel Beardsley. Grania and Dermuid (Grainne and Diarmuid) are the lovers of an Irish legend who fled across Ireland from Finn, a story Yeats knew well from his work on Irish myth.

Form

Ten long, loose lines rhymed alternately ("place" and "face", "made" and "shade", "forgot" and "spot"), with "cardinal" answered by "all" and "breath" by "Death". The whole poem is one long wish, full of names, that builds to its closing line.