WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - The Poetry Fix: Beggar to Beggar Cried

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

Today, Erika Kyba reads "Beggar to Beggar Cried," by the Irish poet, William Butler Yeats. This is a poem about the desire for peace and security, juxtaposed with a restlessness of spirit.

Welcome to the Poetry Fix on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm your host, Erica Kaiba, bringing you your weekly fix of poetry from across time. Today, in honor of the upcoming St. Patrick's Day, we're reading Beggar to Beggar Cried, by the Irish poet William Butler Yates. This poem, on the surface level, is a conversation between two beggars who are looking for a stable, secure life. They long for a comfortable wife and house. and dream of eventually growing, quote, respected at their ease, and having peace.

They are harried, however, by various demons, such as the devil in their shoes, which prevents them from settling down. They seem to believe that acquiring the wife and house will exercise the demons that force them to live a vagrant life, but it's worth asking whether this is necessarily the case. If the devil in your shoes is driving you from place to place, what makes you think it won't simply drive you out of your security once you have it? In many ways, these themes of frenzy and the longing for a seemingly unreachable security are universal. Beggar, after all, does not necessarily refer to one who begs for money. Anyone who is desperate enough for something to plead for it, as many people are at some point, can be called a beggar.

A person can beg for attention, for love, for mercy. Begging speaks to something desperate within the human soul. And the beggars of this poem seem to be desperate for a place of rest and contentment. Yet they begin the poem by declaring their intention to put off the world and go somewhere. The first urge that strikes them is that of escapism. Despite wanting to have peace, they cannot quite help being frenzy struck. Note also that they have no clear destination in mind. It only matters that they want to go somewhere that isn't where they are right now.

They also express a desire to find their health again in the world. the sea air, implying a sickness of a literal or perhaps spiritual nature. Given the spiritual state that the beggars find themselves in, is it certain that they could ever be satisfied with a secure life? Let's consider that as we dive in. Beggar to beggar cried by William Butler Yates. Time to put off the world and go somewhere and find my health again in the sea air. Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy struck, and make my soul before my paint is bare. And get a comfortable wife at house

To rid me of the devil in my shoes. Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy struck, And the worst devil that is between my thighs. And though I'd marry with a comely lass, She need not be too comely, let it pass. Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy struck, But there's a devil in a looking glass. Nor should she be too rich,

Because the rich are driven by wealth as beggars by the itch. Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy struck, and cannot have a humorous happy speech. And there I'll grow respected at my ears. And here amid the garden's nightly peace, beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy struck, the wind-blown clamor of the barnacle geese.

You've been listening to The Poetry Fix with Erica Kaiba. If you enjoyed this episode, consider following the Poetry Fix on Spotify, YouTube or Apple Podcasts. And if you have any poems you want to see in a future episode, email your suggestions to The Poetry Fix at gmail.com. Join me next week and we'll be returning to Elliot's The Hollow Man.