Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water-rats:
There we've hid our faery vats,
Full of berries
And of reddest stolen cherries.
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.
Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim grey sands with light,
Far off by furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances,
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles,
While the world is full of troubles
And is anxious in its sleep.
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.
Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
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.
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
Round and round the oatmeal-chest.
For he comes, the human child,
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
From a world more full of weeping than he can understand.
Source: http://www.yeats-sligo.com/html/tour.html (17.03.06)
Belonging to the early poetry of William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) the poem The Stolen Child was considered to be one of his more notable early poems. This poem was written and first published in the Irish Monthly in 1886, but it was also included in Yeats’ first book of poetry The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems (W.B. Yeats, wikipedia).
This poem relates the story of a child who is lured away by fairies to a fantasy world illustrated through rich descriptions of nature and its freedom. I understand the plot of the poem as a metaphor for the return to innocence that characterizes childhood. With his descriptions, Yeats is able to create an extemporal world, in contrast to the world in which we live, to illustrate his dissatisfaction with reality.The places mentioned in the poem are in Sligo County, Ireland, where Yeats spent his childhood and influenced him greatly during his formative years( W.B. Yeats, wikipedia & Tour- Sligo).
In the first stanza, Yeats describes the magical world he has created. He tells us the dimensions and characteristics of an island, which is to be his setting. Here the fairies have hidden their "faery vats, full of berries / And of the reddest stolen cherries" (6). The description of stolen fruit supports the idea that the innocence of childhood is left behind in a world where it has been stolen and which is "more full of weeping than you can understand" (12) and therefore the fairies are taking the child to the world of innocence again.
The refrain of the poem also includes a reference to "the waters and the wild" (10), that means, to nature. We can interpret this as a complaint. Maybe Yeats is dissatisfied with society because it has moved away from nature toward a more mundane and urban lifestyle, where freedom and innocence don’t exist.
In the second stanza he writes about the faeries dancing in the moonlight. The concept of chasing "the frothy bubbles" (21) of the waves implies a certain degree of freedom that is contrasted by a reality "full of troubles" (22). Water isolates the island that Yeats has created; freeing it from the limits of society and allowing the nature on the island remain wild. The island could also be a symbol of a watery environment that protects the development and innocence of the child.
The use of rushing water as an image of freedom continues in the third stanza where Yeats describes how the "wandering water gushes… in pools among the rushes" (28). It also relates the power of these spirits and shows how they can influence on everything’s and everybody’s destiny. These supernatural abilities are typical for these beings and once more they rouse the child to go with them to a perfect and free world.
In the final stanza, Yeats draws another contrast to illustrate his message. Calves, kettles, and mice are all images that are associated with a domestic farm or a country home. Thus, this imagery is being used to represent how modern society has enslaved nature, controlling its freedom. Water rats and herons, on the other hand, are both wild and free animals that are found near water, the symbol of freedom in this poem.
Although it is not mentioned, I thought of his brother Robert when Yeats mentions “he” (42), who died very young and whose death affected Yeats deeply. He explains that he will not feel and see everyday life activities because, as the refrain begins, he is leaving the human world, the controlled society. Robert has lost his innocence in that world, but the fairies are helping him to recover it in another, fantastic world.
Yeats’ biography is important for the analysis of his work. In his early work his words were soft, romantic and based on Irish legends or myths. Yeats’ early poetry is a kind of tour of Sligo: The Stolen Child is set in Glencar, The Lake of Innisfree in Innisfree, and Under Ben Bulben in Drumcliff (Yeats Sligo). The Celtic Revival, also called the Irish Literary Revival was started by Yeats and his poems. Yeats dreamt of a place free of troubles, worries, and labour; where one can enjoy the beauty of their surroundings and have access to ever-available food. The irony is that Yeats is actually describing what is already available on earth, in nature, in fulfilling this dream of heaven (W.B. Yeats, wikipedia & Celtic Revival).