Labour is blossoming or dancing where The body is not bruised to pleasure soul. Nor beauty born out of its own despair, Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of … - William Butler Yeats

" "

Labour is blossoming or dancing where
The body is not bruised to pleasure soul.
Nor beauty born out of its own despair,
Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil.
O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,
Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?

English
Collect this quote

About William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats (13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939) was an Irish symbolist poet, dramatist and mystic. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. He compiled the Oxford Book of Modern Verse.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Alternative Names: W. B. Yeats William Yeats W.B. Yeats WBY
Works in ChatGPT, Claude, or Any AI

Add semantic quote search to your AI assistant via MCP. One command setup.

Related quotes. More quotes will automatically load as you scroll down, or you can use the load more buttons.

Shorter versions of this quote

O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?

Go Premium

Support Quotewise while enjoying an ad-free experience and premium features.

View Plans

Additional quotes by William Butler Yeats

Every day, everywhere, our children spread their dreams under our feet. We should tread softly because we tread on their dreams

Works in ChatGPT, Claude, or Any AI

Add semantic quote search to your AI assistant via MCP. One command setup.

Loading...