by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)
All things can tempt me
Language: English
All things can tempt me from this craft of verse: One time it was a woman’s face, or worse — The seeming needs of my fool-driven land; Now nothing but comes readier to the hand Than this accustomed toil. When I was young, I had not given a penny for a song Did not the poet sing it with such airs That one believed he had a sword upstairs; Yet would be now, could I but have my wish, Colder and dumber and deafer than a fish.
Confirmed with W. B. Yeats, Responsibilities and Other Poems, New York: The Macmillan company, 1916.
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "All things can tempt me", appears in Responsibilities and Other Poems, first published 1916 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Lowell Dykstra (b. 1952), "All things can tempt me", 1998, published 2001, first performed 2000 [ baritone and piano ], from Youth and Age, no. 1, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2020-01-03
Line count: 10
Word count: 87