Before the World Was Made

I do not read a lot of Yeats, but I just loved this one.

Before the World Was Made

If I make the lashes dark
And the eyes more bright
And the lips more scarlet,
Or ask if all be right
From mirror after mirror,
No vanity's displayed:
I'm looking for the face I had
Before the world was made.

What if I look upon a man
As though on my beloved,
And my blood be cold the while
And my heart unmoved?
Why should he think me cruel
Or that he is betrayed?
I'd have him love the thing that was
Before the world was made.

Good poem, DM. When I first read it I thought it was a little bland, but that seems to be the point. The speaker's trying to get behind the poses and postures that people assume. He wants to see everything "Before the world was made." I suppose a bland vocabulary and unmoving rhythm fit with his goal.

Oh, and I noticed you changed your title. It sounds cool, but what does it mean. What does a poetic warrior do? Fight poetically? Against what?

When I read this I cannot say it struck me as being bland at all. I rather enjoyed the imagery of the poem, I particuarly liked the line

Quote:

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From mirror after mirror

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I thought the poem was quite moving.


Well it has a few different meanings to me. Part of it is just sort of combinining two halves of myself. I am poet, and I always have the spirit of a warrior. Part of it reflects to the old addage "The Pen is Mightier then Sword" and in someways I do battle with my words. My tounge can be as sharp as my blades. And it does have an old romatic feeling to me. I can picture the knights of old quoting poetry before riding off into battle.