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William Butler Yeats Quotes about Death

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I balanced all, brought all to mind, the years to come seemed waste of breath, a waste of breath the years behind, in balance with this life, this death.

I balanced all, brought all to mind, the years to come seemed waste of breath, a waste of breath the years behind, in balance with this life, this death.

William Butler Yeats
Death, Years, Mind
"An Irish Airman Foresees His Death" l. 9 (1919)

Through winter-time we call on spring, And through the spring on summer call, And when the abounding hedges ring Declare that winter's best of all: And after that there's nothing good Because the spring time has not come- Not know that what disturbs our blood Is but its longing for the tomb.

William Butler Yeats
Death, Summer, Spring
William Butler Yeats (2012). “The Tower: A Facsimile Edition”, p.42, Simon and Schuster

I am still of opinion that only two topics can be of the least interest to a serious and studious mood - sex and the dead.

William Butler Yeats
Death, Sex, Two
Letter to Olivia Shakespear, Oct. 1927

We poets would die of loneliness but for women, and we choose our men friends that we may have somebody to talk about women with. Letter to Olivia Shakespeare, 1936

William Butler Yeats
Friendship, Death, Loneliness

That is no country for old men. The young In one another's arms, birds in the trees - Those dying generations-at their song, The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas, Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long Whatever is begotten, born, and dies. Caught in that sensual music all neglect Monuments of unaging intellect.

William Butler Yeats
Death, Summer, Country
"Sailing to Byzantium" l. 1 (1928)

On limestone quarried near the spot By his command these words are cut: Cast a cold eye On life, on death. Horseman, pass by!

William Butler Yeats
Life, Death, Eye
"Under Ben Bulben" l. 89 (1939). The final three lines are in fact inscribed on Yeats's gravestone.

What shall I do for pretty girls Now my old bawd is dead?

William Butler Yeats
Girl, Death, Pretty Girl
William Butler Yeats (2010). “The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Volume I: The Poems: Revised Second Edition”, p.342, Simon and Schuster

I pray-for fashion's word is out And prayer comes round again- That I may seem, though I die old, A foolish, passionate man.

William Butler Yeats
Death, Fashion, Prayer
William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.288, Simon and Schuster

A thought Of that late death took all my heart for speech.

William Butler Yeats
Death, Heart, Speech
William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.135, Simon and Schuster

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