The Dancer at Cruachan and Cro-Patrick
About the text
Yeats first published this poem in 1932. It is out of copyright in Ireland and the EU, but in the United States it stays in copyright until the start of 2028, 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 2028.
It begins: I, proclaiming that there is
In brief
SummaryA dancer on two holy Irish sites praises the God in all creatures.
An eight-line song of praise. The speaker proclaims that among birds, beasts and men there is One who is perfect and at peace. He danced this belief on the windy plain of Cruachan, the ancient royal seat of Connacht, and sang it aloud on Croagh Patrick, the mountain of Ireland's saint. Every creature that can run, leap or swim, in wood, water or cloud, joins in, acclaiming Him. Pagan and Christian holy ground are joined in one act of worship.
Lines to remember
Acclaiming, proclaiming, declaiming Him.
Line by line
Lines 1 to 5Dancing the faith
The speaker declares that one perfect, peaceful being is present among birds, beasts and men. He danced on Cruachan's plain and sang on Cro-Patrick, so both a pagan royal site and a Christian mountain become places of the same praise.
Lines 6 to 8All creatures
Everything that runs, leaps or swims, in wood, water or sky, joins the chorus. The final line piles up three rhyming verbs of praise, acclaiming, proclaiming and declaiming, so the poem ends in a shout.
Themes
God in nature
The speaker finds the divine not above creation but within it, among "birds or beasts or men". The whole natural world, from wood to cloud, answers with praise. This is a joyful, almost pagan faith, expressed through dance and song rather than doctrine.
Pagan and Christian Ireland
Cruachan belongs to the heroic age of Queen Maeve; Croagh Patrick is the holy mountain of St Patrick. By dancing on one and singing on the other, the speaker joins Ireland's two sacred pasts. The poem suggests they worship the same presence.
Context
The poem belongs to "Words for Music Perhaps", first collected in Words for Music Perhaps and Other Poems (Cuala Press, 1932) and then in The Winding Stair and Other Poems (Macmillan, 1933). It comes just before the three Tom the Lunatic poems, and "Tom at Cruachan" returns to the same plain. Cruachan (Rathcroghan) is in County Roscommon; Croagh Patrick, in County Mayo, is still climbed by pilgrims each summer.
Form
Eight four-beat lines rhyming ABABCDCD, with near-rhymes such as "is" and "peace". The poem is a single sentence. Its last line breaks the pattern with a run of three rhyming verbs, which makes the ending burst out like the cry of praise it describes.