NOTE: I know this is a day late, but I was extremely sick all weekend and I wasn't even lucid enough to know that it was Sunday, let alone that I had a poetry blog due. Sorry!
The Coming of Wisdom With Time
though leaves are many, the root is one;
Through all the lying days of my youth
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun;
Now I may wither into the truth.
-William Butler Yeats
Often times we think that something that is shorter is easier to decipher, but shorter does not mean simplicity. I had to read this several times to understand what the words meant. It says that although there are many leaves, there is only one root and will always only be one. Then Yeats says through all the "lying days" - days of leisure- when this person was younger he/she swayed his/her "leaves and flowers in the sun." The last line says this person may now "wither into the truth." The meaning could be that when we are younger, we are like a tree and sway our many leaves in a sense, but when we become old, we remember our root- our greatest common factor in a way, and die knowing the truth.
I'm not sure if this is a typo, but I found it interesting that the first word was not capitalized. And, obviously, the shortness of this poem is a very important structural aspect. This shortness gives it impact and is easy to remember.
The antecedant scenario could have been William Butler Yeats remembering his youth and what changed when he got older. The tone seems to be wise and knowing and pensive.
This is definitely one of my favorite poems that we've read so far.
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