The Cloak, the Boat, and the Shoes

W. B. Yeatsfirst published 1889from Crossways15 lines

“What do you make so fair and bright?”

“I make the cloak of Sorrow:O, lovely to see in all men’s sightShall be the cloak of Sorrow,In all men’s sight.”

“What do you build with sails for flight?”

“I build a boat for Sorrow,O, swift on the seas all day and nightSaileth the rover Sorrow,All day and night.”

“What do you weave with wool so white?”

“I weave the shoes of Sorrow,Soundless shall be the footfall lightIn all men’s ears of Sorrow,Sudden and light.”

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

In brief

Summary

A mysterious maker prepares a cloak, a boat and shoes for Sorrow.

Three times a voice asks a maker what they are working on, and three times the answer is the same: it is for Sorrow. First a bright cloak that everyone will see, then a swift boat that sails the seas day and night, then white woollen shoes so light that Sorrow's steps make no sound. Sorrow is dressed, carried and shod like a traveller, ready to go anywhere, and the last gift means it can arrive without warning.

Lines to remember

I make the cloak of Sorrow:

Sudden and light.

Line by line

Lines 1 to 5The cloak
The first question admires the work, "so fair and bright". The answer is a surprise: it is "the cloak of Sorrow", lovely to see "In all men's sight". Sorrow will be something public and even beautiful.
Lines 6 to 10The boat
Next comes a boat "with sails for flight". Sorrow becomes "the rover", sailing the seas "all day and night". The old verb "Saileth" gives the song the air of a ballad or a riddle.
Lines 11 to 15The shoes
Finally, shoes woven of white wool, so that Sorrow's footfall is "Soundless" in all men's ears. The last words, "Sudden and light", are the quietest and the most unsettling: sorrow can arrive at any moment without a sound.

Themes

Sorrow

Sorrow is treated as a person, a "rover" who needs clothes, transport and shoes. Each gift widens its reach: the cloak makes it visible to all, the boat carries it everywhere, and the soundless shoes let it come "Sudden and light". By the end, sorrow is everywhere and impossible to hear coming.

Beauty and grief

The maker's work is lovely: "fair and bright", "wool so white". Sorrow's cloak is "lovely to see". The song hints that sorrow and beauty are bound together, and that grief can be made into something fine, as this small, polished poem does.

Context

The poem was first collected in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems (London, January 1889), and Yeats placed it among the early lyrics he later grouped as "Crossways". It follows the two shepherd poems, which also treat Sorrow almost as a person. The speakers are never named, which leaves the song as open and strange as a folk riddle.

Form

Three short exchanges, each a one-line question and a four-line answer, 15 lines in all. Every question and answer rhymes on the same sound ("bright", "sight"; "flight", "night"; "white", "light"), and every answer rhymes "Sorrow" with itself. The echoing pattern makes it sound like a riddle or a work song.