Never give all the Heart

Context: There were three phases in Yeats lifethe Early, Middle and Late. The Early phase lasted up until his publication of the volume In the Seven Woods in 1904; it was dominated by influences of English Romanticism, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and Symbolism. He had seen himself as writing on behalf of Ireland and out of the tradition of an Irish poetyet his writings reflect more of his imagination rather than reality. The Middle phase is the phase that is most important for the poem today, as it was written in 1904, published in the volume of poems known as In the Seven Woods: Being Poems Chiefly of the Irish Heroic Age, by W. B. Yeats. Lasting up until 1921, he deals with love in a more questioning and direct approach. Though he still incorporates elements of Ireland in his works, the Ireland has become more realistic, focusing upon the aspects that irritate him. More importantly however, there were some changes in his writing style his poetry had become more active in a sense, losing its meditative atmosphere and adopting more intense rhythms and tighter syntax. This is exemplified in the poem of No Second Troy that we have earlier analysed. W.B. Yeats comments on the poem: I never re-wrote anything so many times; for at first I could not make these wills that stream into mere life poetical. Signals that he had difficulty in expressing his thoughts into his poetry, perhaps due to their complexity. Analysis: Structure: AABB end rhymes within a fourteen-line stanza (AABBCCDDEEFFGG). It should also be noted that it is a narrative poem, as Yeats is essentially telling us a story of how he had fallen in love with a woman (Maud Gonne) but it had failed and gives us his advice upon love. The entirety of the poem is structured as a ballad stanza of iambic tetrameter (eight syllables per line). 1. Never give all the heart, for love 2. Will hardly seem worth thinking of 3. To passionate women if it seem 4. Certain, and they never dream 5. That it fades out from kiss to kiss;

From the start of the poem, we can sense the speakers tone that reflects one who has been heartbroken, yet somewhat belittling of womento show that they are not what they seem. The use of diction, in the adjective passionate to describe the women in line 3 is somewhat amusing. For given the fact that these passionate women barely even think of the love given by their lover, it would seem only fitting to place the word in a negative light. Rather than displaying a show of passion for their lovers love, these women are only passionate to win your heartand thus it makes sense that once you have given all your heart, they would stop giving it any thought, as they believe they have gotten you. This notion is even emphasized more in lines 4 to 5, where it is stated that women simply do not understand that love is a fragile thing, an entity that requires more than just a simple kiss of maintenance. 6. For everything thats lovely is 7. But a brief, dreamy, kind delight. The significance of lines 6-7 is its use of imagery in presenting a rather important concept to understand in life. Using the words brief, dreamy and kind, Yeats invokes a sense of transience in describing what we perceive as lovely or beauty, as represented by the word delight. Yeats emphasizes the fact that the things we find most precious are those that last the briefest in existencesomething crucial to understand in not only everyday life but relationships as well. 8. O never give the heart outright, 9. For they, for all smooth lips can say, 10. Have given their hearts up to the play. Within lines 8-10, the primary message being conveyed to us by the speaker is that despite all women say, they live for the play, to win and chase after elusive challenges. This is described with the figurative use of the word smooth in describing the lips, the deceitful manner, in which women trick men. 11. And who could play it well enough 12. If deaf and dumb and blind with love? Lines 11-12 present the speakers greatest advice to all men in pursuing women. Rather than giving all your heart at first, the speaker suggests to withhold your admission of love to truly understand the game of loveto not pursue your love interest blindly and instead play the game and know where you truly stand, being more gradual in your admission of love. In an allusion to Yeats, these two lines likely highlight his regret in his approach to Maud as he had displayed his compassion openly for her without restraint and yet lost her in her marriage to John MacBride in 1903.

13. He that made this knows all the cost, 14. For he gave all his heart and lost. Given the fact that Yeats had given his all without testing the waters so to speak, he had lost the game of love. He highlights this point with the last end rhyme couple of cost and lost, placing the two notions under the same lightthat of the game of love. Though it was clear that Yeats had loved the Maud who he describes in the poem and had enjoyed the feeling, the speakers transition of tone of love to being overbearing by the end of the poem suggests a clear transition in the thought perception of love by Yeats. Given the repetitive use of the word play in a poem about love, there is no doubt that the poems suggests men to be weary of womenof the tease and joy that woman take in winning the game of love. The entire poem, an allusion to Yeats desire and failure with Maud due to his obsession is somewhat ironic, for he she had had no interest in him; he had given all his heart to a woman who did not want to associate herself with him. Not does this only bring up the notion of blind one-sided love, but also the power of woman, their superiority in love. Given the insecurities of a man and the imbalance of interest as suggested by Yeats in the poem, it seems that the game of love heavily favours women.

Questions: Should we heed these words or make ourselves succumb to the beating of the 'other' heart, within the one we love? Should we succumb to the beating heart and not take warning from the start of these, kind words of one, who has been and lost his heart to love?