The poem is divided into three sections, each with its distinctive form and meter. Section 1 is written in free verse. The five unrhymed stanzas differ widely in terms of line and stanza length. Stanzas 1, 3, and 4 have six lines; Stanza 2 has five lines, and Stanza 5 has eight lines. 

Section 2 comprises one stanza of 10 lines. The meter or rhythmic arrangement is varied. Most of the lines have five beats (stressed syllables), although the shorter last line of the section has only three: “A way of happening, a mouth” (Line 41). 

Section 3 comprises trochaic tetrameter quatrains. A trochee is a poetic foot in which a stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed syllable. A tetrameter consists of four poetic feet. However, these quatrains are made up of catalectic lines, a term that refers to a metrical line of verse in which the second syllable of the final foot is omitted. Each trochaic line of these quatrains therefore consists of seven rather than eight syllables, with the final unstressed syllable (that would complete the tetrameter) being dropped: “Earth, receive an honored guest; / William Yeats is laid to rest” (Lines 42-43).