Easter, 1916

BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Easter 1916 is a reflection on the events surrounding the Easter Rising, an armed insurrection which
began in Dublin, Ireland on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916. A small number of labor leaders and political
revolutionaries occupied government buildings and factories, proclaiming a new independent Irish
Republic. At this time in history, Ireland was under British rule. After the Rising, the leaders were
executed by firing squad. William Butler Yeats wrote about their deaths in the poem “Sixteen Dead
Men.”

About William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. He was considered Anglo-Irish,
descending from English Protestant settlers. Considered one of the twentieth century’s great poets and
visionaries, Yeats won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.

Yeats knew many of the rebels involved in the Easter Rising. He himself was in England at the time of the
Rising. Whether he feels guilty for not being in Ireland at the time is open for debate, and is one of the
mysteries of this poem. Despite being a reflection and commentary on a significant event in Irish history,
Yeats’s poem was not published until 1920.

Easter 1916 Form

The stanzas of Easter 1916 intentionally have an irregular line length and meter. Stanzas 1 and 3 are
divided into 16 lines, representing both the year 1916 and the 16 men who were executed after the
Easter Rising. These stanzas also are scenic in character, invoking the landscape of Dublin city and the
surrounding Irish countryside. Stanzas 2 and 4 are about specific people involved in the Rising. There are
24 lines in Stanzas 2 and 4, symbolizing the fateful day of the month on which the Rising began : April
24, 1916.

Easter 1916Summary

The poem opens with Yeats remembering the rebels as he passed them on the street. Before the Rising,
they were just ordinary people who worked in shops and offices. He remembers his childhood friend
Constance Markievicz, who is “that woman”; the Irish language teacher Padraic Pearse, who “kept a
school” called St. Enda’s; the poet Thomas MacDonagh “helper and friend” to Pearse; and even Yeats’s
own rival in love John MacBride, “a drunken, vainglorious lout.” After reflecting on the rebels’ constancy
of purpose, as if their hearts were “enchanted to a stone,” the poet wonders whether the rebellion was
worth it. The poem ends on a note of ambivalence and futility, reflecting Yeats’s own reluctance to
engage in political debate. The poem is divided into four stanzas, symbolizing the month of April, the
fourth month. It is known for its famous refrain, “All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is
born.”
Summary

In the first stanza (lines 1-16), the poet speaks of the men whom he used to meet at the close of day
when they returned from work. He and the other Irishmen were leading a meaningless, almost comic
kind of life. However, his whole viewpoint changed when a number of nationalist leaders of Ireland died
as martyrs for the nationalist cause during the Easter week of 1916. The poet was sure that he and the
others were leading a life of complacency which he ridicules.

In the second stanza are catalogued the men Markiewicz, whose voice had grown shrill in Political
argument, and the school teacher Patrick Pearse; "this other" is Thomas MacDonough; and "the
drunken, vainglorious lout", John MacBride (Maud Gonne's husband). Yeats says, that he has included
John MacBride in his poem in spite of the fact the "he had done most bitter wrong/ To some who are
near my heart." All these persons, says Yeats, have resigned their parts in the "causal comedy", have
been transformed utterly, have become independent and beautiful figures; with the result the "a
terrible beauty, is born." The obsession of these persons "with one purpose alone", made them so
inappropriate objects in a world of flux. They seem as if they are turned to 'stones' due to their rigid and
lifeless determinations. What if these people were misguided? "Was it needless death after all?" That
does not in any way diminish their achievement: they sacrificed their body and achieved tragic and
heroic stature. Yeats had mixed and ambivalent feelings. Indeed, without this uncertainty, the poem
would lose a great deal of its tensioned complexity which make it one of the finest political poems. "That
woman of line 17 is a reference to Constance Markiewicz one of the loveliest girls in the country of Sligo,
thrown into prison as a result of her participation in nationalistic activities. Yeats believed that one
should be flexible amidst the stream of life, and moreover women must have the grace of their female
being. “This man had kept school” is a reference PartricTharse (1879-1916), the poet and founder of St.
Enda's School. He was one of the leaders shot by the English. "This other" his helper and friend was
Thomas MacDonough (1878-1916) the poet and critic. He too met the same fate as Pearse. "This other
man" was John MacBride the man whom Maud Gonne had married. Yeats refers to him as "a drunken,
vainglorious lout," who had done "most bitter wrong" to someone who were very dear to Yeats (which
means Maud Gonne). But even this man rose to the occasion and attained a tragic dignity by his part in
the Easter Rising.

The third stanza is also a critique of the hard-hearted revolutionaries who foolishly wasted life in the
upheaval. Hearts with one purpose alone... in the midst of all (Lines 41-56)... These persons were
obsessed with one purpose alone, their stupid passion for revolution, at the cost of reasonable and
thoughtful action and safety. The obsession for the liberation of Ireland made them an unchanging
object in a world of change and flux. Their inflexibility of purpose seemed to impede the flow of life. The
horses, the riders, the stream, the birds and clouds, all these represent change and flux. But these men
hindered the normal flow of life, just as the flowing water of a stream is impeded by a stone that lies on
its way.

The last stanza turns to pay tribute to all the rebels who sacrificed and brought about a new era in the
nation's life; despite the reservations about their behavior and their foolhardy actions, the poet sees
that their death has brought about a change in the people's feelings, and out of their sacrifice has been
born a tragic beauty. "Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart", which means that a blind and
unreasonable sticking to any purpose impedes the flow of life. A prolonged sacrifice hardens the heart

Easter 1916Analysis

I have met them at close of day

Coming with vivid faces
From counter or desk among grey
Eighteenth-century houses.
I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words,
Or have lingered awhile and said
Polite meaningless words,
And thought before I had done
Of a mocking tale or a gibe
To please a companion
Around the fire at the club,
Being certain that they and I
But lived where motley is worn:
All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
The first stanza describes Dublin, where the revolutionaries lived and worked. Dublin is known for its
“eighteenth-century houses,” rows of connected and identical four story brick homes, each doorway
made distinctive by “fan light” windows. Yeats himself lived in one such house, at 82 Merrion Square.

In this stanza not much happens other than remembering how he and the rebels exchanged pleasantries
on the street or talked at the “club.” The club was a traditional gentleman’s social meeting place open to
members only. It was part of a fashionable English upper-class tradition and the revolutionaries were
not members. Yeats admits that he belittled the earnest rebels to his companions at the club.

Toward the end of the stanza, Yeats introduces the subtle, but powerful, metaphor of “motley.” To wear
motley is to wear different colors combined. The people of Dublin could be said to be a “motley” group
in 1916: they were Catholic and Protestant, Irish in spirit but English in terms of citizenship, poor and
rich. The River Liffey divides Dublin; many of the rebels worked on the poorer north side of the city.
Court jesters also traditionally wore motley, and Yeats is likely also referring to the tradition of the
“stage Irishman,” a comic figure in English plays, usually portrayed as being drunk. The poet thought the
rebels were like these ridiculous jesters and once mocked their dreams. This one word encapsulates the
social, political, and cultural situation of Dublin in 1916.
The stanza ends with the refrain that will mark all the stanzas of the poem: “a terrible beauty is born.”
Terrible and beauty are opposite sentiments. The Easter Rising was terrible because of its violence and
loss of life, but the beauty was in the dream of independence, a “wingèd horse” of romantic
imagination.

That woman’s days were spent

In ignorant good-will,
Her nights in argument
Until her voice grew shrill.
What voice more sweet than hers
When, young and beautiful,
She rode to harriers?
This man had kept a school
And rode our wingèd horse;
This other his helper and friend
Was coming into his force;
He might have won fame in the end,
So sensitive his nature seemed,
So daring and sweet his thought.
This other man I had dreamed
A drunken, vainglorious lout.
He had done most bitter wrong
To some who are near my heart,
Yet I number him in the song;
He, too, has resigned his part
In the casual comedy;
He, too, has been changed in his turn,
Transformed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

In the second stanza, Yeats begins to name the rebels by their social roles. Their names will be listed
directly in the fourth and final stanza of the poem. He remembers that Constance Markievicz used to
hunt and that she was sweeter before arguing for Irish independence. He also had given Thomas
MacDonagh help with his poetry and hoped that he would become a great name in literature. After
marrying Maud Gonne, John MacBride was accused of physically abusing her.
The “causal comedy” may refer to the idea of Dublin being a stage, as in the famous line from As You
Like It by William Shakespeare, “all the world’s a stage; and all the men and women merely players.” In
the 19th century, domestic comedies were plays about ordinary middle-class life and family concerns.
Yeats and MacBride had been fighting for the love of the beautiful actress and revolutionary Maud
Gonne, whom Yeats adored, but who MacBride married.

Hearts with one purpose alone

Through summer and winter seem
Enchanted to a stone
To trouble the living stream.
The horse that comes from the road,
The rider, the birds that range
From cloud to tumbling cloud,
Minute by minute they change;
A shadow of cloud on the stream
Changes minute by minute;
A horse-hoof slides on the brim,
And a horse plashes within it;
The long-legged moor-hens dive,
And hens to moor-cocks call;
Minute by minute they live:
The stone’s in the midst of all.

The third stanza of the poem introduces an extended pastoral metaphor. The rebels have hardened
their hearts against the English, and have focused on “one purpose”—armed rebellion. For years—
“through summer and winter”—they have plotted against the English government in Ireland. However,
like a stone, such violence of thought “troubles,” or disturbs, nature. Typically, nature is shown to be
unchanging, timeless, and eternal. Yeats reverses this traditional imagery to critique the hardened
hearts of the rebels, “enchanted to a stone.”

Too long a sacrifice

Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?
That is Heaven’s part, our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
On limbs that had run wild.
What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death;
Was it needless death after all?
For England may keep faith
For all that is done and said.
We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead;
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse—
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

In the final stanza of the poem, Yeats asks the significant question about the Rising and the subsequent
executions: “Was it needless death after all?” Was it all worth it? Did the rebels feel so much love for
their country that they were willing to sacrifice their lives? And what good is Ireland if the dreamers are
dead? The immediate political issue that arises is that England was on the verge of granting Ireland
status as an independent—or “free”—state, which would allow it to have its own parliament. The
granting of independence had been set aside during World War I because the English required Irish
support of the war.
In the second stanza, Yeats introduced the idea “the song.” In stanza 4 he developed the idea more fully.
In Irish political ballad tradition, naming the names of martyrs was important. Yeats follows the tradition
by listing Padraic Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh, and John MacBride. He also includes James Connolly at
this point, the labor leader.
Green is the traditional color associated with Ireland, the Emerald Isle. It is also the color of the original
Irish flag. At the end of the poem, Yeats reconciles himself to the fact that “wherever green is worn,”
people will remember the sacrifices of the rebels of 1916.

Lake Isle of Innisfree by William

Butler Yeats
Written in 1888, The Lake Isle of Innisfree is one of William Butler Yeats’ most celebrated
poems. The poem consists of 12 lines, separated into three quatrains, and an abab cdcd efef
rhyme scheme.
.

Summary of Poem
The speaker in The Lake Isle of Innisfreespends most of the poem deep inside a
daydream. He speaks of Innisfree in an idealistic way, describing the almost magical
qualities of the different times of day, and the unbroken solitude and peace he will
achieve once he goes. The speaker within this piece relates peace directly to nature
and throughout the poem. It is revealed by the end that the speaker dreams so intently
about reaching Innisfree because he lives in environment that does not contain the
natural elements that are critical to his happiness.
The Lake Isle of Innisfree Analysis
The poem begins with this first stanza:

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.
The speaker begins by telling the reader of his intentions, he will, “arise and go now,” to
the isle of Innisfree. In this first line, the word “go” is repeated twice, the Yeats made this
choice to provide special emphasis on the importance of the speaker’s action. The
speaker is determined, he must, and will, go to Innisfree. The second line provides
additional details as to what he is going to do when he gets there. He plans to create a
“small” home for himself. The use of the word “small” in this line gives the impression
that he is going to be the only one living in the house, without any family or relations of
any kind. He plans to build the cabin from clay and wattles (sticks and rods). Once he’s
living in his small cabin, he dreams of having “nine” rows of bean plants and a hive for
presumably, many honeybees, as in the next line, the glade (or small clearing in a
forest), is filled with their sound.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

The second quatrain, provides the reader with the reasoning behind his desire to travel
to Innisfree: to find some peace. This stanza also contains the important metaphorical
relationship that Yeats sets up between the notion of peace and nature. He describes
peace as “dropping slow,” “from the veils of…morning to…the cricket[s].” Yeats relates
peace to morning dew. In the glade he will be surrounded by it, from the leaves on the
trees, to the grass on the ground, “where the cricket sings.” Continuing on, the poet
describes three more times of day and the magical qualities they possess on the lake
isle of Innisfree. The imagery calls up sequences that further emphasize the importance
of the daydream to the speaker, midnight “glimmer[s],” noontime glows purple, and the
evening is full of the beating of “linnet’s wings” (a small brown and gray finch, with a
reddish-brown breast).
The third and final quatrain proceeds as follows:

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
It is at this point in the poem that the speaker shakes himself out of his daydream in
which he has described the scenes on the lake isle of Innisfree, and begins to address
the real world. Once again he states he is going to leave for the isle, reinforcing the
importance of the other uses of “go” in the first quatrain. This constant repetition of the
action of leaving his home to create a new one, presents the question of, is he actually
ever going to go? Has this dream been something he is now going to realize or does it
only exist in his mind? These questions remain pertinent as the poem concludes.

Yeats continues the stanza by telling the reader that the speaker hears the water
lapping at the shore all day and night. This dream has become a mantra, it is an
obsession that has come to haunt him, and it is no more prevalent than when he
“stand[s] on the roadway, or on the pavements grey.” It is now evident that the speaker
is wishing to escape a world that is antithetical to his ideas of peace and happiness. It
seems that the speaker lives in a city, or at least somewhere in which he is surrounded
by roads and pavements, both of which are not classical manifestations of nature.

The poem concludes on a very somber note. The poem’s last line, “I hear it in the deep
heart’s core” refers to the sounds of the waves lapping on the shore. The haunting
images of the lake isle of Innisfree are heard not in his head but in his heart. The reader
is left with unanswered questions regarding the reality of the speaker’s plan to, “go now,
and go to Innisfree.” Will the speaker ever make it from his current home to the peace
he needs to achieve happiness? Or will he remain in his city or town, stuck in a fantasy
daydream he will never realize?

Form of the Poem

The form of this poem is clear through the straightforward formatting of the quatrains
and rhyme schemes, but when a closer look is taken small schemes and formatting
decisions reveal what has made this poem a classic. Two instances in the last stanza
are prime examples. The alliteration that is found on line two of quatrain three, “I hear
lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore.” When this poem is read aloud, the
repeated use of the letter “l” creates an auditory motion that is reminiscent of the waves
the line is describing. Additionally, in the line that comes directly after, “While I stand on
the roadway, or on the pavements grey,” Yeats has chosen not only to rhyme the ending
word of this line, “grey” with the ending word, “day,” but has also allowed a rhyme to
exist within the line itself; “grey,” rhyming with “roadway.”
About William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats, more commonly known as, W.B. Yeats, was born in Dublin, Ireland
in 1865. He was educated in London and was an instrumental figure in the defining
years of the 19th century. Yeats wrote both poetry and plays, his early plays were
focused mainly on interpreting Irish legends and his own personal spiritual
beliefs. Later in his life, after 1910, his work took a turn, becoming more experimental
and poetical. He became to create work that presented his anti-Nationalist views, and
he was appointed to the Irish Senate in 1922. He would win the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1923. During the last 16 years of his life, from 1923-1939, Yeats published a
number of volumes of poetry, containing what is now considered his best work.
During the decade in which Yeats wrote, The Lake Isle of Innisfree, Ireland was in the
midst of significant financial struggles. It is possible that Yeats cast himself as the
speaker in this poem; considering that Innisfree is an actual place, on Lough Gill in
County Sligo, Western Ireland, and that when he was a boy Yeats’ family visited County
Sligo.

Analysis Of The Stolen Child By W.B Yeats

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, a dreamer and visionary who was fascinated by folk-
lore, ballad and superstitions about the Irish peasantry. His poetry has Celtic flavor mixed with
mysticism and melancholy. His aim in writing poetry was to make the world conscious about
the beauties of Celtic literature. As he grew older, he deviated from pleasant lyrics to verses
with sterner discipline and deeper thought.
Stolen Child by W.B Yeats was included in the volume of poems named Crossways which was
published in the year 1889. It was written in 1886 and published in 1889. William Butler Yeats
was 21 when he composed this poem. The poem celebrates the stories of Ireland which his
mother loved. It revolves around a group of fairies who lure a child away from his home to a
fairy world.

Summary:

Stanza 1: The poet describes the ‘leafy island’ where the fairies live. The leafy island lies where
the rocky high land of Sleuth Wood touches the water of the lake. Sleepy rats are being
awakened by herons with the noise of their wings flapping. The fairies hid their fairy pots
which are full of stolen berries and red cherries. The fairies call the human child to come to the
waters of the lake and wild rock. The fairies asks the child to walk hand in hand with them
towards their fairy island because the world in which the child lives is more full of miseries and
sorrows than he can understand.
 Stanza 2: The fairies talk about a place that is far away from the distant Roses, where the
stream of moonlight falls on the grey sands and brighten them, where the fairies walk all night
and dance, join hands together and cast glances at one another till the moon has reached
heaven. The fairies tells us that they jump here and there, chase bubbles at night while the
world full of troubles sleeps and is full of anxieties even when they are sleeping. The fairies call
the child to come to the fairy island because the child lives in such a world which is fuller of
miseries and tears than he can comprehend.

Stanza 3:

The third stanza of The Stolen Child describes the place where the fairies look for sleepy fish
and give them disturbing dreams by whispering in their ears. They say that place lies where the
water flows from hills above Glen-Car and causes out in pools among tall grass. The fairies
bend over the herbs which stand against the dewdrops near the streams. The fairies call upon
the human child to their fairy land because the world in which the human child lives is fuller of
miseries than the child can think of.

Stanza 4:
In the final stanza of The Stolen Child, the child is going to the island with the fairies. The child
looks serious. The fairies say that the child will no longer hear the sound of the calves on the
hill side or the sound of the kettle over the fire that gives him warmth. The child will no longer
see the brown mice jumping around the boxes containing oat-meals. He will miss the sights and
sounds of the world, because he is now coming to the leafy island to live with the fairies in
order to escape from a world full of miseries and sorrows than the child can comprehend.
William Butler Yeats

Analysis Of The Stolen Child By W.B Yeats

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, a dreamer and visionary who was fascinated by folk-lore,
ballad and superstitions about the Irish peasantry. His poetry has Celtic flavor mixed with mysticism
and melancholy. His aim in writing poetry was to make the world conscious about the beauties of
Celtic literature. As he grew older, he deviated from pleasant lyrics to verses with sterner discipline
and deeper thought.

Stolen Child by W.B Yeats was included in the volume of poems named Crossways which was
published in the year 1889. It was written in 1886 and published in 1889. William Butler Yeats was 21
when he composed this poem. The poem celebrates the stories of Ireland which his mother loved. It
revolves around a group of fairies who lure a child away from his home to a fairy world.

Summary:

Stanza 1: The poet describes the ‘leafy island’ where the fairies live. The leafy island lies where the
rocky high land of Sleuth Wood touches the water of the lake. Sleepy rats are being awakened by
herons with the noise of their wings flapping. The fairies hid their fairy pots which are full of stolen
berries and red cherries. The fairies call the human child to come to the waters of the lake and wild
rock. The fairies asks the child to walk hand in hand with them towards their fairy island because the
world in which the child lives is more full of miseries and sorrows than he can understand.

Stanza 2: The fairies talk about a place that is far away from the distant Roses, where the stream of
moonlight falls on the grey sands and brighten them, where the fairies walk all night and dance, join
hands together and cast glances at one another till the moon has reached heaven. The fairies tells us
that they jump here and there, chase bubbles at night while the world full of troubles sleeps and is full
of anxieties even when they are sleeping. The fairies call the child to come to the fairy island because
the child lives in such a world which is fuller of miseries and tears than he can comprehend.

Stanza 3:

The third stanza of The Stolen Child describes the place where the fairies look for sleepy fish and give
them disturbing dreams by whispering in their ears. They say that place lies where the water flows
from hills above Glen-Car and causes out in pools among tall grass. The fairies bend over the herbs
which stand against the dewdrops near the streams. The fairies call upon the human child to their fairy
land because the world in which the human child lives is fuller of miseries than the child can think of.

Stanza 4:
In the final stanza of The Stolen Child, the child is going to the island with the fairies. The child looks
serious. The fairies say that the child will no longer hear the sound of the calves on the hill side or the
sound of the kettle over the fire that gives him warmth. The child will no longer see the brown mice
jumping around the boxes containing oat-meals. He will miss the sights and sounds of the world,
because he is now coming to the leafy island to live with the fairies in order to escape from a world full
of miseries and sorrows than the child can comprehend.

Style and Structure:

The poem, The Stolen Child, is composed of four stanzas. Nature and the land of fairies present images
of freedom throughout the first three stanzas. The first three stanzas of the poem The Stolen Child has
Celtic references that makes the reader realize that W.B Yeats wants to return to more innocent and
less politicized world of the past. Celtic legend often offers a myth about fairies stealing a child and
replacing it with a changeling. Yeats uses this myth in his poem, The Stolen Child. He uses this myth to
show his desire to return of innocence to the society. The image of the island is used by the poet to
symbolize the separation of the real world and the freedom that it creates for the fairies. “There lies a
leafy island” refers to a place far away from the world of pain which is the real world in which we
dwell in. The ‘wild’ represent the unrestricted life led by the fairies.

On the other hand the poet has used refrain in The Stolen Child. There is refrain at the end of each
stanza which provides a musical tinge to the poem. A refrain is a repeated line or a number of lines in a
poem or song, usually at the end of each verse. There is also a contrast in the refrain in this poem. The
human world is full of joys and sorrows, and tears and laughter.

William Butler Yeats had used vivid imagery in his poem, The Stolen Child to describe the dwelling
place of the fairies. The description of the flora and fauna of the fairy island is very appealing and
convincing to its readers. The herons, the trout, the ferns, the grey sand paint a romantic color into the
poem. A world of fantasy and illusion is introduced to the poem. The use of ‘water’ is symbolic of free
flowing life.

The plot of the poem is a metaphor for the return to innocence, which is characterized by childhood.
The fantasy world created by Yeats is a sharp contrast to the real world. The creation of such a world
shows the poet’s dissatisfaction with the real world. Yeats had portrayed his disappointment with the
modern society, probably because of the increased violence in the society. The child finally leaves his
world which is full of sorrows and tears. He forgets his friends, he forgets his family. He is enchanted
by the fairies and leaves with them to a world free of miseries and sorrows.

At the end, Yeats keeps the readers in doubt about whether the fairy world is really better than the
world in which we dwell in.

William Butler Yeats's "The Stolen Child" is a poem that combines Irish mythology, mystery and
romanticism as it pertains to childhood, and in juxtaposition with the modern world. This being
said, the main theme that we can gather from the poem is the struggle to maintain the innocence of
childhood versus the duty of having to experience of the reality of life. In the end, the faeries will
(we assume) protect the child from having to go into the duties of the grown-up life.

The poet's narrator, presumably a faerie, recites these words to lure the child into the
presence of the faeries:

Come away, O human child!To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand,

For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

This verse encompasses the main idea: as the faeries call the child, they promise that the
child will return to the place where children belong; a place where they can go wild, and
roam free. Why bother with the problems of everyday life, when there is a far greater and
better solution. Why not protect the child within and leave it be?

Therefore, when the poem reads

Away with us he's going,

The solemn-eyed -He'll hear no more the lowing

Of the calves on the warm hillside

Or the kettle on the hob

 Sing peace into his breast,

Or see the brown mice bob

these verses serve two purposes: to show how the faeries' primary purpose is to bring an
innocent child into their realm and away from the real world, and to use romantic language
to engage the reader into visuals of a bucolic nature.

This is what the aesthetic style of Pre-Raphaelites like Yeats mainly attempted with their
works: to combine the beauty of nature with the reality of daily life. Yeats adds to it the
mystery of mythology, and an ample Irish scenery, to create the atmosphere of solemnity
and nostalgia that the poem intends to convey.

CRITICAL APPRECIATION

The Stolen Child is recognised to be one of the more notable of Yeats’ early poems.
Published in 1889, in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, the traditional Irish
ballad form reflects the early influence of Romantic Literature and Pre-
Raphaelite verse. It is thus that Yeats uses ambiguous language to explore the notion
of ‘the evil versus the angelic’ via the motif of the Irish mythological creatures: the
‘faeries’, defined as goddesses who control people’s lives. Prior to reading the poem,
this definition holds ambiguity as whether the control is of an evil or angelic nature,
however the poem progresses to reveal the cold and severe undertone of the evil and
corrupt abduction of the child.

The poem is heavy in the semantic field of nature. Yeats introduces us to a “leafy
island” in Sleuth Wood “full of berries” and “drowsy water-rats”, his use of
adjectives create fanatical imagery and connote natural colours of green, reds and
blue. This technique, along with the light-hearted rhyming structure (ABABCCDD),
abducts from the sinister undertone of the poem and causes us to brush over the fact
that these berries and cherries are in fact “stolen”. The verb “stolen” also
foreshadows the fate of the child in the poem, as the line is juxtaposed with the
refrain “Come away, O human child!… to the wild”. The dual meaning
of “wild” holds ambiguity as Yeats could be suggesting the wild in terms of exotic
nature, yet it creates chilling imagery of a dangerous wood rife with uncertainty. The
same technique is seen in Yeats’ “Leda and the Swan” where nature and sexuality
are aligned, “a sudden blow” holds violent and sexual connotations, one is unsure as
to which of these is being suggested. Beauty and fear in the poem are not binary
opposites instead they are fused together with ambiguity, ultimately concluding in
evil.

Verse three is brimming with water lexis, “wandering water gushes… pools among
the rushes…young streams”, here again an audience witnesses the tactical
ambiguity in Yeats’ descriptions. The soft alliteration of “wandering water” creates
a mystical serenity and the adjective “gushes” rolls softly off the tongue, juxtaposed
by the imagery of “bath[ing] a star“, both ideas create a continuous flow of romantic
imagery apparent throughout the whole stanza. However the sinister undertone is still
very much present, the gushing water suggests the “human child” is being consumed
by his surroundings, drowned in natural lexis that holds dark and evil undertones of
death. This links to “the brimming lake” present in both ‘The Wild Swans at
Coole’ and ‘Broken Dreams’ where it is described as “mysterious”, in
context suggesting the consumption of Yeats’ soul. Just as in ‘The Stolen Child’ the
water is swallowing the child’s soul and youthful freedom.

The ballad structure acts as a mechanism by which Yeats disguises the corrupt nature
of the controlling ‘faeries’ confirmed by the shift in refrain of the last stanza. In all
previous stanzas the line reads “Come away, O human child” almost creating a
sense of childish temptation, by addressing the child as “O human child” it adds
informality; whereas in the last stanza the same line reads “For he comes, the human
child” disregarding any previous temptation. The absence of the “O” in this
refrain reinforces the argument that the faeries are evil and utterly disturbing. The idea
of the child now having “a faery, hand in hand” suddenly seems claustrophobic and
paints a picture of the faeries with the visage of a demon. The refrain has also shifted
to present tense “for he comes..” it is therefore a continuous happening and doesn’t
provide the reader with closure, rather leaving them feeling great discomfort and
confirming the menacing and threatening nature of the faeries.