Public-domain source text

Another Song of a Fool

by W. B. Yeats

From Standard Ebooks · standardebooks/w-b-yeats_poetry

This great purple butterfly, In the prison of my hands, Has a learning in his eye Not a poor fool understands.
Once he lived a schoolmaster With a stark, denying look, A string of scholars went in fear Of his great birch and his great book.
Like the clangour of a bell, Sweet and harsh, harsh and sweet, That is how he learnt so well To take the roses for his meat.

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This is a source transcription from Standard Ebooks, published in Past Poetry’s public-domain archive without line-by-line editorial notes. Public-domain source edition. Availability can vary by territory.

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