An Analysis of The Stolen Child by William Butler Yeats
Discuss ways in which Yeats presents the faery world in ‘The Stolen Child’.
In the poem ‘The Stolen Child’ Yeats presents the faery world as an idyllic place surrounded by ‘rocky highland’ where you can escape the outside world that is ‘full of weeping’. However, as the poem progresses we discover that there may be something more sinister lurking in the shadows of this ‘leafy island’ that leaves the child ‘solemn eyed’. We also learn that maybe the real world isn’t that bad after all. This poem has themes that are also relevant in some of Yeats’ other poems such as ‘Wandering Aengus’ and ‘Wild Swans at Coole’. This poem was written in 1886 when Yeats was 21 years old, this is near the beginning of his writing career
At first the magical faery world is described as a calm, natural setting with the lake and ‘flapping herons’. This sets a calm tone for the beginning of the poem, almost making you trust the surroundings. This continues into the second stanza with the island being covered in ‘moonlight glosses’ and being compared to the real world which is ‘full of troubles’. The poem also creates a blanket of security over the island saying it is a safe place to hide the ‘stolen cherries’. This, however, also makes us suspicious as things would only need to be hidden if there was a risk of them being stolen. The fact that the cherries are described as being stolen in the first place also makes you think that there is something more happening on the island.
Throughout the poem water is mentioned. The intensity of the water increases through the course of the poem. It ranges from being a mere ‘lake’ which could be seen as a calm body of water, to ‘frothy bubbles’ which are more playful and childlike and then onto ‘gushing water’. As the water becomes more violent so do the actions of the faeries on the island. Water is mentioned in a lot of Yeats’ poems, for example, in ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’. In this poem the lake is a place of rest and tranquillity. The
In the poem ‘The Stolen Child’ Yeats presents the faery world as an idyllic place surrounded by ‘rocky highland’ where you can escape the outside world that is ‘full of weeping’. However, as the poem progresses we discover that there may be something more sinister lurking in the shadows of this ‘leafy island’ that leaves the child ‘solemn eyed’. We also learn that maybe the real world isn’t that bad after all. This poem has themes that are also relevant in some of Yeats’ other poems such as ‘Wandering Aengus’ and ‘Wild Swans at Coole’. This poem was written in 1886 when Yeats was 21 years old, this is near the beginning of his writing career
At first the magical faery world is described as a calm, natural setting with the lake and ‘flapping herons’. This sets a calm tone for the beginning of the poem, almost making you trust the surroundings. This continues into the second stanza with the island being covered in ‘moonlight glosses’ and being compared to the real world which is ‘full of troubles’. The poem also creates a blanket of security over the island saying it is a safe place to hide the ‘stolen cherries’. This, however, also makes us suspicious as things would only need to be hidden if there was a risk of them being stolen. The fact that the cherries are described as being stolen in the first place also makes you think that there is something more happening on the island.
Throughout the poem water is mentioned. The intensity of the water increases through the course of the poem. It ranges from being a mere ‘lake’ which could be seen as a calm body of water, to ‘frothy bubbles’ which are more playful and childlike and then onto ‘gushing water’. As the water becomes more violent so do the actions of the faeries on the island. Water is mentioned in a lot of Yeats’ poems, for example, in ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’. In this poem the lake is a place of rest and tranquillity. The