Sonnet- Mikaela Gatewood

Never give all the Heart- William Butler Yeats

Never give all the heart, for love

Will hardly seem worth thinking of

To passionate women if it seem

Certain, and they never dream

That it fades out from kiss to kiss;

For everything that’s lovely is

But a brief, dreamy, kind delight.

O never give the heart outright,

For they, for all smooth lips can say,

Have given their hearts up to the play.

And who could play it well enough

If deaf and dumb and blind with love?

He that made this knows all the cost,

For he gave all his heart and lost.

This sonnet most closely resembles a Shakespearean sonnet, although the majority of the poem is heavily modified. 

Instead of using iambic pentameter, Yeats uses iambic tetrameter, with a few modifications. The lines "To passionate women if it seem" and "Have given their hearts up to play" both have anapestic foots at the end of each line, while the line "Certain, and they never dream" shows iambic trimeter with a catalectic ending. This semi-frequent variation in the meter intentionally breaks up the rhythm of the poem, calling the readers' attention to those lines.

Unlike a Shakespearean rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, this sonnet closely follows the rhyme scheme of AA BB CC DD EE FF GG. Unlike the meter, the rhyme scheme of the sonnet intentionally flows very well, yet is very much unlike either of the typical rhyme scheme used in most sonnets. This is most likely so Yeats could follow a more free verse style, while still keeping the typical lyricism of a sonnet.  

One of the similarities to a Shakespearean sonnet is seen in the placement of the volta. The majority of the poem talks about why women never fall in love with men who give them all their love. In the last two lines, however, it is shown that Yeats was a man who "gave all his heart and lost", and in turn, "knows all the cost."

That being said, another similarity to a Shakespearean sonnet within the poem is the topic of love. Following the majority of Shakespeare's sonnet topics, this poem discusses not only love, but most importantly heartbreak. The volta at the end of the poem transforms the sonnet from a story of silly women into one of a heartbroken man.

Overall, I believe that the modifications made to the sonnet symbolize the ups and downs that love may have. The discontinuity of the meter breaks up several parts of the poem, similar to the disjointedness love may have. At the same time, the rhyme scheme maintains a relatively consistent flow throughout the poem, similar to the ease that love may also have. The poem's heartbreaking ending and beautiful diction is what ultimately attracted me to this piece.