First printed in 1897 and collected in The Wind Among the Reeds (1899), W. B. Yeats's "The Song of Wandering Aengus" is a dramatic monologue about burning and thwarted passion. Written in the voice of Aengus (a god of love and youth in Irish mythology), it tells the tale of a magical fish that turns into a beautiful girl and runs away. The infatuated Aengus wanders the earth in pursuit of this girl, growing old but never giving up his search. As a kind of miniature fable, the poem suggests how unrequited love—or any other unattainable dream—can both exhaust a person's energies and nourish a person's imagination.
|
Get
LitCharts
|
|
The Full Text of “The Song of Wandering Aengus”
1I went out to the hazel wood,
2Because a fire was in my head,
3And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
4And hooked a berry to a thread;
5And when white moths were on the wing,
6And moth-like stars were flickering out,
7I dropped the berry in a stream
8And caught a little silver trout.
9When I had laid it on the floor
10I went to blow the fire a-flame,
11But something rustled on the floor,
12And someone called me by my name:
13It had become a glimmering girl
14With apple blossom in her hair
15Who called me by my name and ran
16And faded through the brightening air.
17Though I am old with wandering
18Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
19I will find out where she has gone,
20And kiss her lips and take her hands;
21And walk among long dappled grass,
22And pluck till time and times are done,
23The silver apples of the moon,
24The golden apples of the sun.
The Full Text of “The Song of Wandering Aengus”
1I went out to the hazel wood,
2Because a fire was in my head,
3And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
4And hooked a berry to a thread;
5And when white moths were on the wing,
6And moth-like stars were flickering out,
7I dropped the berry in a stream
8And caught a little silver trout.
9When I had laid it on the floor
10I went to blow the fire a-flame,
11But something rustled on the floor,
12And someone called me by my name:
13It had become a glimmering girl
14With apple blossom in her hair
15Who called me by my name and ran
16And faded through the brightening air.
17Though I am old with wandering
18Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
19I will find out where she has gone,
20And kiss her lips and take her hands;
21And walk among long dappled grass,
22And pluck till time and times are done,
23The silver apples of the moon,
24The golden apples of the sun.
-
“The Song of Wandering Aengus” Summary
-
-
“The Song of Wandering Aengus” Themes
-
Infatuation, Beauty, and Obsession
- See where this theme is active in the poem.
-
-
Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Song of Wandering Aengus”
-
Lines 1-4
I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread; -
Lines 5-8
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout. -
Lines 9-12
When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name: -
Lines 13-16
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air. -
Lines 17-20
Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands; -
Lines 21-24
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done,
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.
-
-
“The Song of Wandering Aengus” Symbols
-
Hazel
- See where this symbol appears in the poem.
-
Fire
- See where this symbol appears in the poem.
-
Silver Trout
- See where this symbol appears in the poem.
-
Apples
- See where this symbol appears in the poem.
-
-
“The Song of Wandering Aengus” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
-
Repetition
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
Parallelism
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
Anaphora
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
Alliteration
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
Assonance
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
Juxtaposition
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
Allusion
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
Imagery
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
-
“The Song of Wandering Aengus” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Hazel
- On the wing
- A-flame
- Rustled
- Glimmering
- Apple blossom
- Dappled
-
- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
-
Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Song of Wandering Aengus”
-
Form
-
Meter
-
Rhyme Scheme
-
-
“The Song of Wandering Aengus” Speaker
-
-
“The Song of Wandering Aengus” Setting
-
-
Literary and Historical Context of “The Song of Wandering Aengus”
-
-
More “The Song of Wandering Aengus” Resources
-
External Resources
-
The Poet's Life and Work — Read a short bio of Yeats, along with other Yeats poems, at Poets.org.
-
The Poem Read Aloud — Hear a reading of the poem by actor Michael Gambon.
-
"Aengus" in Song — Listen to a 1971 adaptation of the poem by folk singer Donovan.
-
Yeats, Nobel Laureate — Browse an exhibit on Yeats, winner of the 1923 Nobel Prize in Literature, at Nobel.org.
-
The Many Sides of Yeats — Read the Poetry Foundation's introduction to the various phases of Yeats's career.
-
Yeats Reads His Work — Listen to a rare recording of W. B. Yeats reading his poetry aloud.
-
-
LitCharts on Other Poems by William Butler Yeats
-
Ask LitCharts AI:
The answer to your questions
Powered by LitCharts content and AI.
