The Song of the Happy Shepherd - W.B. Yeats
A Reverie on Imagination, Truth, and the Power of Words
The woods of Arcady are dead,
And over is their antique joy;
Of old the world on dreaming fed;
Grey Truth is now her painted toy;
Yet still she turns her restless head:
But O, sick children of the world,
Of all the many changing things
In dreary dancing past us whirled,
To the cracked tune that Chronos sings,
Words alone are certain good.
Where are now the waring kings,
Word be-mockers?—By the Rood
Where are now the waring kings?
An idle word is now their glory,
By the stammering schoolboy said,
Reading some entangled story:
The kings of the old time are dead;
The wandering earth herself may be
Only a sudden flaming word,
In clanging space a moment heard,
Troubling the endless reverie.
Then nowise worship dusty deeds,
Nor seek, for this is also sooth,
To hunger fiercely after truth,
Lest all thy toiling only breeds
New dreams, new dreams; there is no truth
Saving in thine own heart. Seek, then,
No learning from the starry men,
Who follow with the optic glass
The whirling ways of stars that pass—
Seek, then, for this is also sooth,
No word of theirs—the cold star-bane
Has cloven and rent their hearts in twain,
And dead is all their human truth.
Go gather by the humming sea
Some twisted, echo-harbouring shell,
And to its lips thy story tell,
And they thy comforters will be,
Rewording in melodious guile
Thy fretful words a little while,
Till they shall singing fade in ruth
And die a dim grey blessed truth;
For words alone are certain good:
Sing, then, for this is also sooth.
In “The Song of the Happy Shepherd,” Yeats weaves a meditation on the fading of old ideals (represented by the mythical Arcady) and the elusive nature of Truth. Composed in his early career, this poem sets the stage for Yeats’s lifelong fascination with the power of imagination. From the outset, the speaker laments how "Grey Truth" has replaced the world’s once vivid dreams, emphasizing a sense that modernity has grown disenchanted. However, Yeats suggests that words—and, by extension, poetry—still hold the ability to create and sustain meaning.
He contrasts the ephemeral reign of ancient kings and their now-forgotten deeds with the lasting impact of language. In the second stanza, the poet depicts how even the earth itself might be nothing more than a "sudden flaming word," likening reality to a brief utterance in the endless expanse of time. By doing so, he argues that our grandest achievements may be as transient as a spoken syllable.
Yet he does not sink into cynicism. Instead, Yeats proposes a renewed commitment to poetic vision: truth is to be sought not in external authority (like "the starry men" peering through telescopes) but in the heart’s own imaginative pulse. The final stanza instructs the reader to listen to the "humming sea" within a seashell, creating a metaphor for transforming one’s anxieties into harmonized, poetic expressions.
Yeats’s repeated insistence that "words alone are certain good" underscores his belief in the sustaining power of art. Though the poem briefly conjures illusions of lost Arcadian wonder, it ultimately affirms that in a world of shifting realities, creative imagination can still anchor us. Art and words can redefine sorrow into something more enduring and consoling, sustaining a timeless source of renewal—even if the old paths and old Arcadian joys lie behind us forever.
Key points
1. Yeats contrasts vanished mythic ideals with the ongoing power of words to shape reality.
2. The poem stresses that outward truths fade, leaving inner, creative vision as the enduring guide.
3. Yeats critiques the pursuit of absolute facts, suggesting poetry offers deeper solace than cold rationalism.
4. “The Song of the Happy Shepherd” affirms that art can transform fleeting experiences into lasting insight.