Rhyme and Rhythm
Senior 6 · Literature in English
Rhyme and Rhythm
Lesson 4 of 4
20 min
One of the best-loved poems in English is a promise about the future. The Irish poet W. B. Yeats wrote it as a young man in London, homesick for the countryside of his childhood:
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
W. B. Yeats, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" (1890), lines 1–5
"I will arise", "will I have", "I shall have": the poem is built on the simple future. The speaker is not predicting; he is making a resolution, and the firm "will" gives his dream the weight of a decision. In this lesson you study the three future forms named in the syllabus, using them as a class plans a poetry recital.
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| arise | get up (formal, old-fashioned) |
| wattles | woven sticks, plastered with clay to make walls |
| glade | an open space in a wood |
Definition
| Form | Main uses | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Simple future will + base | Predictions; decisions made at the moment of speaking; promises and resolutions; offers | The audience will love Frost's poem. I'll read the first stanza! I will arise and go now. |
| Future continuous will be + -ing | An action in progress at a future moment; a polite question about someone's plans; something that will happen as a matter of course | This time tomorrow we'll be rehearsing. Will you be using the hall on Friday? |
| Future perfect will have + past participle | An action finished before a future deadline (often with by or by the time) | By the end of term we will have scanned twenty poems. By the time the guests arrive, we'll have set up the chairs. |
Other ways to talk about the future. Be going to expresses plans already made and predictions based on evidence ("Look at those clouds: it's going to rain on the outdoor recital"); the present continuous expresses fixed arrangements ("We're performing at the district festival on 12 November"); the present simple is used for timetables ("The recital starts at three").
| Form | Negative | Question |
|---|---|---|
| Simple future | We won't (will not) perform. | Will we perform? |
| Future continuous | We won't be performing. | Will we be performing? |
| Future perfect | We won't have finished. | Will we have finished? |
Note Yeats's poetic word order: "Nine bean-rows will I have there" puts the object first and inverts subject and auxiliary. This is inversion for emphasis, possible in poetry and formal speech, but unusual in ordinary prose.
Worked example: choosing the right future form
A class prefect writes to the teacher about the recital. Choose the form for each gap.
Tip
Look for the time signal. By or by the time usually calls for the future perfect; at this time tomorrow, at 3 p.m. on Friday or when you arrive usually calls for the future continuous.
Warning
"Future Continuous and Future Perfect Explained", from Speak Confident English. Note the timelines the teacher draws, and compare them with the one above.
Practice
Further reading
Sources and credits
