Point of View

The poem is written in the first-person point of view using the pronoun “I”. This is immediately apparent from the very first line: “I know that I shall meet my fate” (Line 1). The first-person voice is then further enhanced as the speaker looks inward: “Those that I fight I do not hate, / Those that I guard I do not love” (Lines 4-5). The “I” pronoun is used four times in quick succession. However, it becomes less adamant as the poem progresses and the speaker considers the world outside himself. The final three lines don’t use any first-person flags, instead taking a wider view of the speaker’s consciousness.

Language and Meaning

Typical of Yeats’ poetry, this poem uses somewhat accessible word choices assembled in lyrical, elevated ways. In the first quatrain, only one word is more than a single syllable: “Somewhere” (Line 2). This keeps...