{
 "id": "w-b-yeats/the-hour-before-dawn",
 "title": "The Hour Before Dawn",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "W. B. Yeats",
 "poet_slug": "w-b-yeats",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Responsibilities",
 "book_slug": "responsibilities",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 9,
 "container": "Responsibilities",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1914,
  "venue": "Responsibilities (1914)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/responsibilities0000will_k2v1"
  ]
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  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-21"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 122,
  "n_stanzas": 11,
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  "longest_line_chars": 43,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "A cursing rogue with a merry face,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A bundle of rags upon a crutch,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Stumbled upon that windy place",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Called Croghan, and it was as much",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As the one sturdy leg could do",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To keep him upright while he cursed.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He had counted, where long years ago",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Queen Maeve’s nine Maines had been nursed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A pair of lapwings, one old sheep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And not a house to the plain’s edge,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When close to his right hand a heap",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of grey stones and a rocky ledge",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Reminded him that he could make,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If he but shifted a few stones,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A shelter till the daylight broke.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But while he fumbled with the stones",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They toppled over; “Were it not",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I have a lucky wooden shin",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I had been hurt”; and toppling brought",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Before his eyes, where stones had been,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A dark deep hollow in the rock.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He gave a gasp and thought to have fled,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Being certain it was no right rock",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Because an ancient history said",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hell Mouth lay open near that place,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And yet stood still, because inside",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A great lad with a beery face",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had tucked himself away beside",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A ladle and a tub of beer,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And snored, no phantom by his look.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So with a laugh at his own fear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He crawled into that pleasant nook.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Night grows uneasy near the dawn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till even I sleep light; but who",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Has tired of his own company?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What one of Maeve’s nine brawling sons",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sick of his grave has wakened me?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But let him keep his grave for once",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That I may find the sleep I have lost.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“What care I if you sleep or wake,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But I’ll have no man call me ghost.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Say what you please, but from daybreak",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ll sleep another century.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“And I will talk before I sleep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And drink before I talk.” And he",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had dipped the wooden ladle deep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the sleeper’s tub of beer",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had not the sleeper started up.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Before you have dipped it in the beer",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I dragged from Goban’s mountaintop",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ll have assurance that you are able",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To value beer; no half-legged fool",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall dip his nose into my ladle",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Merely for stumbling on this hole",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the bad hour before the dawn.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Why, beer is only beer.” “But say",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "‘I’ll sleep until the winter’s gone,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or maybe to Midsummer Day,’",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And drink, and you will sleep that length.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I’d like to sleep till winter’s gone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or till the sun is in his strength.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This blast has chilled me to the bone.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I had no better plan at first.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I thought to wait for that or this;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Because the weather was a-cursed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or I had no woman there to kiss;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So slept for half a year or so;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But year by year I found that less",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Gave me such pleasure I’d forgo",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Even a half hour’s nothingness,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And when at one year’s end I found",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I had not waked a single minute,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I chose this burrow under ground.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ll sleep away all Time within it:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My sleep were now nine centuries",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But for those mornings when I find",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The lapwing at their foolish cries",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the sheep bleating at the wind",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As when I also played the fool.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The beggar in a rage began",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon his hunkers in the hole,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“It’s plain that you are no right man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To mock at everything I love",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As if it were not worth the doing.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I’d have a merry life enough",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If a good Easter wind were blowing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And though the winter wind is bad",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I should not be too down in the mouth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For anything you did or said",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If but this wind were in the south.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“You cry aloud, O would ’twere spring",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or that the wind would shift a point",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And do not know that you would bring,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If time were suppler in the joint,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Neither the spring nor the south wind",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But the hour when you shall pass away",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And leave no smoking wick behind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For all life longs for the Last Day",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And there’s no man but cocks his ear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To know when Michael’s trumpet cries",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That flesh and bone may disappear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And souls as if they were but sighs,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And there be nothing but God left;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But I alone being blessed keep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like some old rabbit to my cleft",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And wait Him in a drunken sleep.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He dipped his ladle in the tub",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And drank and yawned and stretched him out.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The other shouted, “You would rob",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My life of every pleasant thought",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And every comfortable thing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And so take that and that.” Thereon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He gave him a great pummelling,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But might have pummelled at a stone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For all the sleeper knew or cared;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And after heaped up stone on stone,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And then, grown weary, prayed and cursed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And heaped up stone on stone again,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And prayed and cursed and cursed and fled",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From Maeve and all that juggling plain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor gave God thanks till overhead",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The clouds were brightening with the dawn.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}