William Butler Yeats

The Song of Wandering Aengus

The Song of Wandering Aengus - context Summary

Published 1899

Published in 1899 in The Wind Among the Reeds, Yeats' "The Song of Wandering Aengus" draws on Irish myth to sketch a lifelong quest of longing. The speaker pursues a supernatural girl who emerges from a trout, transforming desire into an enduring journey across landscape and time. The poem frames love and artistic pursuit as a persistent seeking after beauty, symbolized by the evocative image of "silver apples" and "golden apples."

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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; 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. When I had laid it on the floor I went to blow the fire aflame, But something rustled on the floor, And some one called me by my name: 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. Though I am old with wandering Through hollow lads and hilly lands. I will find out where she has gone, And kiss her lips and take her hands; 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.

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