2. what do you know
about the poet ?
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939)
was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the
foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a
driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and
became a pillar of the Irish literary establishment
who helped to found the Abbey Theatre, and in his
later years served two terms as a Senator of the Irish
Free State.
3. The poem
I rise in the dawn, and I kneel and blow
Till the seed of the fire flicker and glow;
And then I must scrub and bake and sweep
Till stars are beginning to blink and peep;
And the young lie long and dream in their bed
Of the matching of ribbons for bosom and head,
And their days go over in idleness,
And they sigh if the wind but lift a tress:
While I must work because I am old,
And the seed of the fire gets feeble and cold.
4. paraphrase
The mother in the poem makes a sort of complaint.
She describes the hard work she does . In a sense
that, she must kneel down and work hard to start the
fire . Throughout the day , she sweeps , cleans and
gets the house tidy . On the other hand , the children
sleep in their beds lazily. The young children don’t
work as hard as she does. So , she feels ungrateful for
them because they are helpless. They seem selfish as
they enjoy the warmth of the house .
5. Figures of speech :
Alliteration : Line 2 "Till the seed of the fire flicker and
glow" The "f" sound is repeated in "fire" and "flicker" Line 4
"Till stars beginning to blink and peep" The "b" sound is
repeated in "beginning" and "blink"
Personification :
"Till stars are beginning to blink and peep" The poet personifies the stars as
humans with eyes that can blink and peep.
Metaphor : "And the seed of the fire get feeble and cold" A seed is
physical object found in plants and isn’t in a flame.
Rhyme scheme: ( aa bb cc dd ee )
