An Acre of Grass by W. B. Yeats: Thorough Analysis Stanzawise (line by line)/line by line explanation of "An Acre of Grass" by Yeats

 

An Acre of Grass by W. B. Yeats: Thorough Analysis Stanzawise (line by line)/line by line explanation of "An Acre of Grass" by Yeats

William Butler Yeats was born in 1865 and he breathed his last in 1939. After his superannuation from all kinds of public activities in 1932, the poet determined to permanently settle in Riversdale. The poem An Acre of Grass, published in Yeats’ Last Poems, was composed in about 1936 to 1937. So, as we see, the poem was composed in the last phase of his life. The poem is structurally composed of four six-line stanzas. That is to say, it is written in four stanzas of six lines each. Let us now analyse the poem thoroughly below:

Stanza 1

When an old man is at the last phase of his life, when he is at life’s end, when he is at the brink of death, he has to chiefly depend upon the descriptions in “Picture and book” for “An acre of green grass” to have fresh “air and exercise”. Note the poet’s expression in the very opening line of the poem: “Picture and book remain”. So, this expression predominantly serves the function of a solace to the drooping figure of an old human being. Right at that time, he can neither go for a visit to an acre of “green grass” nor can he have some energizing exercises in the fresh and open air. Hence, he consoles himself by saying that “Picture and book remain” to give me a vent to the outside world. Then, we come to see that “green grass” is the symbol of ever youthfulness, ever tenderness and everlasting strength and vigour. We find an Alliteration here. A man can get invigorated by taking exercises in the open air on the green grasses. However, since that is a dream to an old man, he necessarily remains confined to the descriptions of books and pictures for his mental exercise. “Now strength of body” has gone away, since the speaker is at the point of life’s end or at the edge of death. In the next couple of lines, we find a plethora of metaphors: “Midnight, an old house/ Where nothing stirs but a mouse.” Just as a mouse, a restless mouse runs here and there in an old empty house at midnight, the end of the present day, the speaker persona's heart palpitates and his mind wanders here and there restlessly staying confined to the old physique of the old man. So, here midnight refers to old age, which is the end of the day or life; old house refers to the old man’s drooping figure; mouse is symptomatic of the old man’s slowing beating heart.

Stanza 2

Here “at life’s end” or at the time of departure from this world, the speaker feels bereft of or free from temptation. His “temptation is quiet”. “Neither loose imagination” or any fantasy “Nor the mill of the mind” or the intellect “Can make the truth known” because they are “Consuming its rag and bone” or the loosened skin and bones of the old man. Here we come to find an instance of Hyperbaton.

Stanza 3

The poet now prays to God to gift him, to grant him “an old man’s frenzy” or creative madness. Again, he persuades his mind that he needs to make it on his own: “Myself must I remake”. He alludes to Timon, the historical legend and Lear, Shakespeare’s immortal creation, and then to William Blake, the visionary mystic poet “Who beat upon the wall/ Till Truth obeyed his call”. William Blake, with his rigorous practice and legendary talent, came to know the truth of life. The speaker persona wants to be just like that.

Stanza 4

At last, the poet has alluded to the legendary artist Michelangelo whose mind was so full of calmness, composure, fullness, knowledge, wisdom and might that it could penetrate heaven as well as shake the dead in their shrouds. That is to say, his mind was able to touch heaven as well as hell. Lastly, the final lines speak of the fact that an old man has “eagle mind” which can see everything that from the highest point of the sky itself. Everything else will be forgotten by mankind, but never the “eagle mind” of an old personality.