Like much of Yeats, this little poem slips into the memory fairly effortlessly, and the play on the word ‘form’, used here as the correct precise term for a hare’s nest as well in the general sense, is nice. But I do have problems with it, in that the image of the hare’s form, though a charming one, doesn’t really work for me. Clearly it is meant to convey the idea that one particular woman (presumably Maud Gonne) had made such an impression on the poet’s mind that it could never fade or she be replaced. But hares are light, and grass is springy stuff and grows quickly. How long does the mark a hare leaves in grass actually last? I give it a week or two at best – not much of a tribute to poor Maud.

Maybe I am wrong to worry about this sort of thing, yet it seems to me that a poem should not only be neat and sound good, but should stand up to practical scrutiny at every level. Of course, I may be wrong and hares, those creatures of magic and fable, may make more of a lasting impression on the landscape than I imagine. Any leporine experts out there?

Memory

One had a lovely face,
And two or three had charm,
But charm and face were in vain
Because the mountain grass
Cannot but keep the form
Where the mountain hare has lain.

W.B.Yeats