Poetry

Oops sorry Ms. Froehlich I forgot the poem. Here it is.
Cap and Bells by William Butler Yeats

The jester walked into the garden:
The garden had fallen still;
He bade his soul rise upward
And stand on her window-sill.

It rose in a straight blue garment,
When owls began to call:
It had grown wise-tongued by thingking
Of a quiet and light footfall;

But the young queen would not listen;
She rose in her pale night-gown;
She drew in the heavy casement
And pushed the latches down.

He bade his heart go to her,
When the owls called out no more;
In a red quivering garment
It sang to her through the door.

It had grown sweet-tongued by dreaming
Of a flutter of flower-like hair;
But she took up her fan from the table
And waved it off on the air.

'I have cap and bells,' he pondered,
'I will send them to her and die';
And when the morning whitened
He left them where she went by.

She laid them upon her bosom,
Under a cloud of her hair,
And her red lips sang them a love-song
Till stars grew out of the air.

She opened her door and her window,
And the heart and the soul came through,
To her right hand came the red one,
To her left hand came blue.

They set up a noise like crickets,
A chattering wise and sweet,
And her hair was a folded flower
And the quiet of love in her feet.

The poem "Cap and Bells" opens:
The jester walked into the garden:
The garden had fallen still;
He bade his soul rise upward
And stand on her window-sill. (1-4)
From the beginning of the poem, the reader's attention is caught. Images of a teenage boy throwing stones into his love interest's window fill the reader's mind. How painful for the young man, when the girl "pushed the latches down" (12). Many boys can relate to being ignored by a girl they adore. But even a girl will enjoy reading this poem. William Butler Yeats uses a central metaphor of members of a medieval court in his poem, "Cap and Bells."
"Cap and Bells" goes on to say " 'I have cap and bells,' he pondered,/ 'I will send them to her and die;' " (21-22). In these lines, cap and bells means heart and soul. The jester is giving his heart and soul to the young lady, who just didn't care. The next morning, the girl receives the cap and bells, "And her red lips sang them a love-song" (27). How eloquently Yeats words his poem. Although this could simply be the story of a court jester and a young queen in midieval Europe, it could also be a metaphor for any slightly odd young man who tried his hardest to win a beauty's heart.