“The Song of Wandering Aengus” Introduction

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“The Song of Wandering Aengus” Summary

“The Song of Wandering Aengus” Themes

• 

  Infatuation, Beauty, and Obsession

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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;

  

  

  

  

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• 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.

  

  

  

  

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• 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:

  

  

  

  

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• 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.

  

  

  

  

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• 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;

  

  

  

  

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• 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.

  

  

  

  

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“The Song of Wandering Aengus” Symbols

• 

  Hazel

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• 

  Fire

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• 

  Silver Trout

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• 

  Apples

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“The Song of Wandering Aengus” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

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• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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“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

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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

  • Adam's Curse

  • Among School Children

  • An Irish Airman Foresees his Death

  • A Prayer for my Daughter

  • Byzantium

  • Easter, 1916

  • He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

  • In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markievicz

  • Lapis Lazuli

  • Leda and the Swan

  • Sailing to Byzantium

  • September 1913

  • The Lake Isle of Innisfree

  • The Second Coming

  • The Wild Swans at Coole

  • To a Shade

  • When You Are Old