What then?

Yeats, William Butler (1865 - 1939)

Original Text

Yeats, William Butler. W. B. Yeats: Selected Poetry: 184. Ed. by A. Norman Jeffares. London: Macmillan, 1968.

1His chosen comrades thought at school

2He must grow a famous man;

3He thought the same and lived by rule,

4All his twenties crammed with toil;

5'What then?' sang Plato's ghost. 'What then?'

6Everything he wrote was read,

7After certain years he won

8Sufficient money for his need,

9Friends that have been friends indeed;

10'What then?' sang Plato's ghost. ' What then?'

11All his happier dreams came true--

12A small old house, wife, daughter, son,

13Grounds where plum and cabbage grew,

14Poets and Wits about him drew;

15'What then.?' sang Plato's ghost. 'What then?'

16The work is done,' grown old he thought,

17'According to my boyish plan;

18Let the fools rage, I swerved in naught,

19Something to perfection brought';

20But louder sang that ghost, 'What then?'

Publication Start Year

1939

Publication Notes

Last Poems (1936-1939)

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire, assisted by Ana Berdinskikh

RPO Edition

2009

Rhyme

Form