Adam Plunkett * And notice that the poem’s only other true rhymes add to the last line's sense of recollection - "grass" and "has," and "where" with the homophonous "hare" whose tresses could leave an imprint only with the weight of memory. That’s another way that charm and face are vain, preoccupied by appearances while love remembers just an imprint, not a sight to recall but an absence to fill. Memory - poem by William Butler Yeats PoetryVerse William Butler Yeats Memory One had a lovely face, And two or three had charm, But charm and face were in vain Because the mountain grass Cannot but keep the form Where the mountain hare has lain. 1865 (Sandymount) 1939 (Menton) William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. “Charm and face were in vain,” but for what and for whom? You can feel the conflict through the sounds: the off-rhymes like memories grasped for (“face” and “grass,” and “charm” and “form”) the end rhyme like memory found (“vain” and “lain”) * “face” and “face” repeated like a memory trace with no image, a lost experience. The poem shows the texture of memory - assertive and uncertain. 144 In Memory of Major Robert Gregory I Now that we're almost settled in our house I'll name the friends that cannot sup with us. The heart holds the form of what it loved long after its love hops away. But that’s the contrast between memory and life. Unlike many poets of the early 20th century, Yeats played with traditional forms The. Memory by William Butler Yeats One had a lovely face, And two or three had charm, But charm and face were in vain Because the mountain grass Cannot but keep the form Where the mountain hare has lain. Few living things leave imprints in the grass, let alone permanently. Written near the end of his life at the age of 70, this is one of Yeats’s last, and best known poems. Editor's Note: As a putative fact, the second stanza is just false and is really kind of silly. Many of Yeats poems showed his love and pride for Irish subjects. ![]() ![]() One had a pretty face, and two or three had charm, but charm and face were in vain, because the mountain grass cannot but keep the form where the mountain hare has lain. William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet born in Dublin on June 13, 1865.
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