Here Lies Yates:
On the gravestone of W.B. Yates, in a little Irish town called Drumcliff, is this quote.
“Cast a cold eye, on life, on death.
Horseman, pass by.”
I was oddly moved by this. On the one hand, it seems almost cynical as if the very act of mourning is suspect. Don’t bother, pass day.
But I sat there in the sun and thought. Maybe it’s more about the limited time we have here and about letting it go when it’s gone. Maybe, if Yates speaking directly and not in verse he would have said this.
“My time here is up. Please don’t waste your life mourning mine. Mine is over. Walk on. Let me go. Pass by.”
I like that better. What do you think it means?
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16 Replies to “Here Lies Yates:”
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It’s from a poem called “Under Ben Bulben” (http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets/William_Butler_Yeats/3385)
Early in the poem, Yeats says, “Many times man lives and dies
Between his two eternities.”
The final stanza is either prophetic or an overt request:
“Under bare Ben Bulben’s head
In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid.
An ancestor was rector there
Long years ago, a church stands near,
By the road an ancient cross.
No marble, no conventional phrase;
On limestone quarried near the spot
By his command these words are cut:
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!”
It’s from a poem called “Under Ben Bulben” (http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets/William_Butler_Yeats/3385)
Early in the poem, Yeats says, “Many times man lives and dies
Between his two eternities.”
The final stanza is either prophetic or an overt request:
“Under bare Ben Bulben’s head
In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid.
An ancestor was rector there
Long years ago, a church stands near,
By the road an ancient cross.
No marble, no conventional phrase;
On limestone quarried near the spot
By his command these words are cut:
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!”
A good horse steps as evenly as the days.
A good horse steps as evenly as the days.
“Ben Bulben” is the name of the beautiful boxy mountain behind the cemetery. I’m sure you got a glimpse of that. [http://www.chasethelight.com/images/ireland2003/053.jpg%5D
“Ben Bulben” is the name of the beautiful boxy mountain behind the cemetery. I’m sure you got a glimpse of that. [http://www.chasethelight.com/images/ireland2003/053.jpg%5D
I’ve been there in Drumcliff, May 1967. I saw the churchyard and Yeat’s grave tomb. From that time I have a question: What is more impotant than life and death. I think W.B. Yeats knew the answer. But I dont.Kind regards J.Gindorff
I’ve been there in Drumcliff, May 1967. I saw the churchyard and Yeat’s grave tomb. From that time I have a question: What is more impotant than life and death. I think W.B. Yeats knew the answer. But I dont.Kind regards J.Gindorff
Hi there, we have Club Tap and it has existed for 16 years. We have a resident poet called Robert Ballas, fine chap… Anyway, I was at WB Yates graveside in 1997. My mother was born in Sligo, 70 odd years ago. Good on ya mate, love your work!
regards
Denzo (thats my name now)
Hi there, we have Club Tap and it has existed for 16 years. We have a resident poet called Robert Ballas, fine chap… Anyway, I was at WB Yates graveside in 1997. My mother was born in Sligo, 70 odd years ago. Good on ya mate, love your work!
regards
Denzo (thats my name now)
Maybe…Yates is saying that we shouldn’t let life or death bother us-that they both are but 2 things (immposters?)that we will encounter on our journey to an ultimate, different destination, that neither is an end in itself. (Draw rein, draw breath, (cast a cold eye on life, on death)-stop your horse, look at life, at death-but don’t let either stop you continuing on your merry way (horseman pass by). This would correspond with a theme that Yates touched on in other poems-about taking life easy, not too seriously (Down by the Sally Gardens, Lake Isle of Innisfree, for example).
Maybe…Yates is saying that we shouldn’t let life or death bother us-that they both are but 2 things (immposters?)that we will encounter on our journey to an ultimate, different destination, that neither is an end in itself. (Draw rein, draw breath, (cast a cold eye on life, on death)-stop your horse, look at life, at death-but don’t let either stop you continuing on your merry way (horseman pass by). This would correspond with a theme that Yates touched on in other poems-about taking life easy, not too seriously (Down by the Sally Gardens, Lake Isle of Innisfree, for example).
We live… then we die…. What we leave behind is waste! or another’s knowledge! Who knows?
We live… then we die…. What we leave behind is waste! or another’s knowledge! Who knows?
We are born, we learn/ignore, we love/hate, we kill/save and be happy/sad then we struggle for the rest of our lives and then we die, without a blink in the life of a stone/rock but did I make a mark on that rock for the future! Tempus Fugit.
We are born, we learn/ignore, we love/hate, we kill/save and be happy/sad then we struggle for the rest of our lives and then we die, without a blink in the life of a stone/rock but did I make a mark on that rock for the future! Tempus Fugit.