Stream and Sun at Glendalough

Stream and Sun at Glendalough - meaning Summary

Sudden, Humble Transformed Joy

Yeats’s poem describes a sudden, ordinary moment of brightness—sunlight and a running stream—that lifts the speaker’s spirits and exposes a petty fault. That joy is shadowed by repentance and a modest sense of unworthiness: he questions his capacity for moral improvement and wonders whether the tiny, luminous incident made him feel reborn. The tone mixes wonder, self-doubt, and a humble acceptance of limits on self-mastery.