Nature

The Dawn

by W. B. Yeats 1865–1939

From The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)

Nature

I would be ignorant as the dawn
That has looked down
On that old queen measuring a town
With the pin of a brooch,
Or on the withered men that saw
From their pedantic Babylon
The careless planets in their courses,
The stars fade out where the moon comes,
And took their tablets and did sums;
I would be ignorant as the dawn
That merely stood, rocking the glittering coach
Above the cloudy shoulders of the horses;
I would be--for no knowledge is worth a straw--
Ignorant and wanton as the dawn.

MLA

Yeats, W. B. “The Dawn.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/yeats/155/.

Chicago

Yeats, W. B. “The Dawn.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/yeats/155/.

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