The Wheel

"The Wheel"

Through winter-time we call on spring,
And through the spring on summer call,
And when abounding hedges ring
Declare that winter's best of all;
And after that there's nothing good
Because the spring-time has not come--
Nor know that what disturbs our blood
Is but its longing for the tomb.

What I liked about “The Wheel” is its contrast between the image of a wheel and life itself. Most people think of life as a linear progression from birth to death while Yeats seems to imply that it is more of a circular progression. He begins the poem with winter then moves through spring and summer until we “Declare that winter’s best of all” but “spring-time has not come.” I think what reveals that this second winter is really the end of life is when he says “Nor know that what disturbs our blood/Is but its longing for the tomb.”

It is also interesting that the last four lines are really just slant rhymes. “Good” with “blood” and “come” with “tomb.” These slant rhymes tie into the effects of age itself: when young we are vibrant and full of life but as we age humans deteriorate in many aspects. The first four lines are perfect rhymes but the last four are not, this tells us much about aging. I feel that the semicolon at the end of the fourth line is enormously important as well. It denotes a separation between the first four lines (youth) and the last four (old age) BUT does not completely separate them as a period would. The semicolon keeps a continuity of time but separates the two sections by characteristics. A period would separate them by characteristics but would also stop time.