Under the Round Tower

W. B. Yeatsfirst published 1919from The Wild Swans at Coole30 lines

“Although I’d lie lapped up in linenA deal I’d sweat and little earnIf I should live as live the neighbours,”Cried the beggar, Billy Byrne;“Stretch bones till the daylight comeOn great-grandfather’s battered tomb.”

Upon a grey old battered tombstoneIn Glendalough beside the stream,Where the O’Byrnes and Byrnes are buried,He stretched his bones and fell in a dreamOf sun and moon that a good hourBellowed and pranced in the round tower;

Of golden king and silver lady,Bellowing up and bellowing round,Till toes mastered a sweet measure,Mouth mastered a sweet sound,Prancing round and prancing upUntil they pranced upon the top.

That golden king and that wild ladySang till stars began to fade,Hands gripped in hands, toes close together,Hair spread on the wind they made;That lady and that golden kingCould like a brace of blackbirds sing.

“It’s certain that my luck is broken,”That rambling jailbird Billy said;“Before nightfall I’ll pick a pocketAnd snug it in a feather-bed,I cannot find the peace of homeOn great-grandfather’s battered tomb.”

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

In brief

Summary

A beggar sleeping on a tomb dreams of the sun and moon dancing.

Billy Byrne, a beggar and jailbird, decides he would rather stretch out on his great-grandfather's battered tomb than sweat for a living like his neighbours. He lies down on the tombstone at Glendalough, beside the stream where the O'Byrnes are buried, and dreams of the sun and moon as a golden king and a silver lady, bellowing and prancing up the round tower until they dance on the top, singing like blackbirds until the stars fade. When he wakes, Billy decides his luck is broken and he will go and pick a pocket instead.

Lines to remember

Hands gripped in hands, toes close together,

Could like a brace of blackbirds sing.

On great-grandfather's battered tomb."

Line by line

Lines 1 to 6Billy's choice
Billy explains himself in his own voice: he could live comfortably "lapped up in linen" if he worked like the neighbours, but it would cost too much sweat. Instead he will sleep "On great-grandfather's battered tomb".
Lines 7 to 12Sleep at Glendalough
The setting is exact: a grey tombstone "In Glendalough beside the stream", among the graves of the O'Byrnes and Byrnes. Billy falls into a dream of sun and moon that "Bellowed and pranced in the round tower".
Lines 13 to 18Up the tower
Sun and moon become "golden king and silver lady". The repeated "Bellowing up and bellowing round", "Prancing round and prancing up" climb like the stair inside the tower, while toes and mouth master "a sweet measure" and "a sweet sound".
Lines 19 to 24Dancing on top
On the summit the king and lady sing "till stars began to fade", hands gripped, toes together, hair streaming in the wind of their own dance. The image of two voices singing "like a brace of blackbirds" is a picture of perfect union.
Lines 25 to 30Back to the pocket
Awake, the "rambling jailbird" finds his luck "broken" and plans to pick a pocket and sleep in a feather bed. The stanza echoes the first, ending again on the "battered tomb", but the vision has left him restless, not at peace.

Themes

Vision and the outcast

The grandest vision in the poem comes to a beggar and petty thief. Billy has refused ordinary work, and his reward is a dream of cosmic dancing. Yeats often gave such visions to beggars and wanderers, people outside respectable life.

Union of opposites

The sun and moon, gold and silver, king and lady, climb the tower together and dance "Hands gripped in hands, toes close together". Their dance joins opposites into harmony, and it is this harmony that Billy glimpses and then loses.

Comedy

The poem frames its vision with comic realism: Billy's excuses about sweat, his "great-grandfather's battered tomb", his plan to pick a pocket. The mix of the sublime and the shabby keeps the poem light and ballad-like, and suggests that heavenly music can be heard even by a man who cannot keep a roof over his head.

Context

The poem was collected in the enlarged edition of The Wild Swans at Coole (Macmillan, 1919). Glendalough, in County Wicklow, is the site of an early Christian monastery with a tall round tower, and the O'Byrnes were a Wicklow clan. The golden king and silver lady reflect Yeats's growing interest in sun and moon as symbols of opposite natures, which also shapes "The Cat and the Moon" in the same book.

Form

Five six-line stanzas, each closing on a rhymed couplet ("come" and "tomb", "hour" and "tower"), with the second and fourth lines also rhyming ("earn" and "Byrne"). The first and last stanzas both end on "great-grandfather's battered tomb", framing the dream with Billy's waking life.