the song of wandering aengus is told in what tense

The Song of Wandering Aengus Summary & Analysis by William Butler Yeats

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

First printed in 1897 and collected in The Wind Among the Reeds (1899), W. B. Yeats's "The Song of Wandering Aengus" is a dramatic monologue about burning and thwarted passion. Written in the voice of Aengus (a god of love and youth in Irish mythology), it tells the tale of a magical fish that turns into a beautiful girl and runs away. The infatuated Aengus wanders the earth in pursuit of this girl, growing old but never giving up his search. As a kind of miniature fable, the poem suggests how unrequited love—or any other unattainable dream—can both exhaust a person's energies and nourish a person's imagination.

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The Full Text of “The Song of Wandering Aengus”

1 I went out to the hazel wood,

2 Because a fire was in my head,

3 And cut and peeled a hazel wand,

4 And hooked a berry to a thread;

5 And when white moths were on the wing,

6 And moth-like stars were flickering out,

7 I dropped the berry in a stream

8 And caught a little silver trout.

9 When I had laid it on the floor

10 I went to blow the fire a-flame,

11 But something rustled on the floor,

12 And someone called me by my name:

13 It had become a glimmering girl

14 With apple blossom in her hair

15 Who called me by my name and ran

16 And faded through the brightening air.

17 Though I am old with wandering

18 Through hollow lands and hilly lands,

19 I will find out where she has gone,

20 And kiss her lips and take her hands;

21 And walk among long dappled grass,

22 And pluck till time and times are done,

23 The silver apples of the moon,

24 The golden apples of the sun.

“The Song of Wandering Aengus” Summary

“the song of wandering aengus” themes.

Infatuation, Beauty, and Obsession

• See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Song of Wandering Aengus”

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 a-flame, But something rustled on the floor, And someone called me by my name:

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.

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;

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.

“The Song of Wandering Aengus” Symbols

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Silver Trout

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

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Parallelism

Alliteration, juxtaposition, “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.

• On the wing
• Apple blossom
• See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Song of Wandering Aengus”

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

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

When You Are Old

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Home > Poems > The Song of Wandering Aengus

The Song of Wandering Aengus

By W. B. Yeats

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 a-flame, But something rustled on the floor, And someone 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 lands 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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The Song of Wandering Aengus

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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 a-flame, But something rustled on the floor,   And someone 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 lands 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.

This poem is in the public domain.

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Once more the storm is howling, and half hid Under this cradle-hood and coverlid My child sleeps on. There is no obstacle But Gregory's wood and one bare hill Whereby the haystack- and roof-levelling wind, Bred on the Atlantic, can be stayed; And for an hour I have walked and prayed

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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 berrys And of reddest stolen cherries. Come away, O human child!

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Listen to the world’s best poetry read out loud.

The song of wandering aengus, read by maurice riordan.

by William Butler Yeats

The Song of Wandering Aengus - William Butler Yeats - Read by Maurice Riordan

Yeats remarked of his early poems that they were 'the heart's cry against necessity' - he was much preoccupied by his long unrequited love for Maude Gonne, while also immersing his imagination in the lore and mythology of Ireland. The Aengus of this poem is a Celtic god, for Yeats the god of youth, beauty and poetry, though really perhaps no more than a vehicle for the poet's own longing.

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: 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.

Recording commissioned by the Poetry Archive, shared here with kind permission of our reader.

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Meaning of The Song of Wandering Aengus by William Butler Yeats

"The Song of Wandering Aengus" by William Butler Yeats is a mystical and romantic poem that explores the themes of longing, search for meaning, and the pursuit of an elusive ideal. The protagonist, Aengus, embarks on a journey through nature, driven by a strong inner fire or desire. Let's dive deeper into the meaning behind the lyrics.

The hazel wood represents a liminal space, a threshold between different worlds or states of being. Aengus cuts a hazel wand, suggesting his desire for guidance or a magical tool to aid him in his quest. The berry attached to a thread symbolizes a lure, an attempt to capture something valuable or significant.

As Aengus observes the white moths and the flickering stars, it showcases a moment of heightened awareness and connection with the mystical or ethereal world. When he drops the berry into the stream and catches a silver trout, it represents a fleeting moment of success or tangible manifestation of his desires.

However, as Aengus returns to his fire to ignite it, he experiences a disturbance. Something rustles on the floor, and he hears his name being called. This moment marks a significant shift as the glimmering girl with apple blossom in her hair appears before him. She embodies an ideal or an object of desire, evoking feelings of enchantment and beauty.

The girl, mysterious and ethereal, calls Aengus by his name and then vanishes, leaving him with a longing to find her once again. This encounter acts as a catalyst for Aengus' search, fueling his determination to locate her, no matter how far he has traveled or how old he has become.

The last stanza captures Aengus' resolution and determination. Despite the hardships he has faced and his age, he vows to continue his search, embracing the imagery of dappled grass, which symbolizes the passage of time and the cyclical nature of life. He aspires to find his ideal, represented by the silver and golden apples, which may symbolize wisdom, enlightenment, or transformative experiences.

Overall, "The Song of Wandering Aengus" portrays the human longing for love, beauty, and transcendence. It delves into the universal pursuit of an elusive ideal and the enduring spirit to continue seeking, even in the face of adversity.

This meaning interpretation was written by AI. Help improve it with your feedback

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The Song of Wandering Aengus

by William Butler Yeats

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 a-flame, But something rustled on the floor, And someone 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 lands 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.

Summary of The Song of Wandering Aengus

• Popularity of “The Song of Wandering Aengus”: William Butler Yeats, a great romantic poet, wrote ‘The Song of Wandering Aengus’. It is a narrative poem about unrequited love. It was first published in 1899 in Yeats’ collection of poems, The Wind Among the Reeds . It speaks about a man who goes out in search of peace. It also reflects his quest to find a girl he once encountered in his youth. The poet continues to talk about love and beauty .
• “The Song of Wandering Aengus”, As a Representative of Wonder: The poem speaks about the speaker ’s quest to find a beautiful girl he saw in the woods. The poem begins when the speaker goes to the Hazel Woods to find some peace as he is disturbed. While wandering in the woods, he decides to go fishing and peels a thin piece of hazel from a tree to make a wand. The soothing and enchanting nature around gives him a strange feeling and makes him perceive more than his imagination. Absorbed in the serenity of the soothing environment, he cuts the sting and throws into the water and hooks a fish. To his surprise, before he prepares his food, someone calls him by his name. The silver trout caught by the speaker turns into a glimmering girl. He is amazed by her physical appearance and tries to catch her, but she disappears in the air. The memory of that pretty girl leaves a permanent mark on his imagination. He tries to trace her everywhere, but all efforts go in vain. As he grows older, his search continues. He wishes to see her and spend the precious years of his life with her.
• Major Themes in “The Song of Wandering Aengus”: Nature, love, and wonder are the major themes of this poem. Nature plays a central role in this poem. When the speaker is disturbed from the materialistic world, he turns toward nature to find peace. Nature offers him its wonders but also provides him with a chance to get a glimpse of a beautiful woman who magically appears. She never gets close to him, yet he feels a strong sense of belonging with that strange beauty. She also magically disappears, leaving a lasting impression on his life. At an old age, the speaker finds his unrequited and idealized love. He speaks about the nature of romantic love marked with the dimensions of private privacy.

Analysis of Literary Devices in “The Song of Wandering Aengus”

literary devices are essential elements of a literary text. They bring richness to the text and also help the readers understand hidden meanings. William Butler Yeats has also made this poem superb by using figurative language . Here is the analysis of some literary devices used in this poem.

• Assonance : Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line. For example, the sound of /ai/ in “And pluck till time and times are done”.
• Alliteration : Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession. For example, the sound of /w/ in “And when white moths were on the wing”.
• Consonance : Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line. For example, the sound of /ng/ in “And walk among long dappled grass”.
• Enjambment : It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break . Instead, the verse continues in the next line. For example;

“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.”

• Imagery : Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “I went out to the hazel wood”, “And walk among long dappled grass” and “And kiss her lips and take her hands.”
• Symbolism : Symbolism is a use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings different from their literal meanings. Here, “glimmering girl” is the symbol of love and beauty.

Analysis of Poetic Devices in “The Song of Wandering Aengus”

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

• End Rhyme : End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. For example, “hair/air”, “lands/hands” and “head/thread.”
• Iambic Tetrameter: It is a type of meter having four iambs per line. The poem follows iambic tetrameter. For example, “ When  I had  laid   it  on  the  ”
• Rhyme Scheme : The poem follows the ABABCDCD rhyme scheme , and this pattern continues until the end.
• Stanza : A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are three stanzas in this poem, with each comprising an equal number of verses.

Quotes to be Used

The lines stated below can be used by a lover to describe his infinite love for his beloved .

“ 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; And walk among long dappled grass, And pluck till time and times are done.”

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The Song Of Wandering Aengus

By william butler yeats.

This poem is featured in our selection of Poetry for Students and 100 Great Poems .

Return to the William Butler Yeats library , or . . . Read the next poem; The Sorrow Of Love

"The Song of Wandering Aengus" by W.B. Yeats: An Analysis

“The Song of Wandering Aengus”, from W.B. Yeats 1899 collection, The Wind Among the Reeds , is one of the best known of the Nobel prize-winning poet’s early works. Like much of Yeats’s work from this time, it draws heavily on Irish mythology, inextricably mixed with more personal themes from the poet’s life.

The deeply symbolic nature of Yeats’s poetry was influenced by three sources: Irish mythology, classical Greek mythology, and the occult symbolism he was exposed to when he joined the magical order known as The Golden Dawn in 1890. In Yeats’s early career, he was heavily involved in collecting Irish folklore, and this informs his poetry of the 1890s.

The Aengus of the title was a god of Irish mythology, one who stayed forever young and lived in a most marvelous palace where no one ever died, and where food and drink was always plentiful. This palace was called Brug na Boinne, and was situated on the banks of the River Boyne. He was also known as Aengus Og (“Aengus the Young”), among several variants.

One of the most famous tales about Aengus, and one that is partly reproduced by Yeats in the poem, involves his love for a young girl called Caer. He became sick with love for her having only seen her in a dream, and after years of searching, finally found her. Caer spent each year alternately as a swan or as a human girl. When Aengus found her, she was a swan, and he plunged into the water beside her and he too turned into a swan. Together they sang the most beautiful songs that put all who heard to sleep. After a year, Caer and Aonghus turned from swans back to their original form.

The obsessive love (“a fire was in my head”), the wandering in search of the briefly-glimpsed maiden, and the animal metamorphosis are common to the poem and the myth. However, in Yeat’s poem the metamorphosis involves a trout, not a swan – though both are related by the association with water. The trout-girl recalls the Irish myth of the maighdean mhara (“maidens of the sea”), who often bewitched men to fall in love with them.

But unlike the Aengus of legend, Yeat’s protagonist is, at the poem’s end, not united with his beloved. Also unlike Aengus, he has grown old. Therefore his expressions of optimism in the final verse ("I will find out where she has gone, and kiss her lips and take her hands") may allude to the afterlife, as in this life he has grown old with fruitless searching. Unlike the eternally young Aengus, Yeats's protagonist is affected by the passing of time. The bittersweet ending implies that he now awaits death, but trusts that in the afterlife he will find the love he has only glimpsed briefly. In death he will be forever young like Aengus.

William B. Yeats

The reference in the final lines to “silver apples of the moon” and “golden apples of the sun” has provoked many interpretations. One source may be the legend that in Aengus’s palace there were, as well as an un-emptying vessel of the best drink and a pig nicely roasted and always available to eat, three trees that always bore fruit. Yeats’s protagonist is again imagining himself in the palace of Aengus, immortal and beloved.

The sun and moon symbolism are important in occult circles. Yeats himself wrote about the lunar influence being the source of all thoughts that are of the community, of instinct and primal coconscious; and the solar influence being responsible for individual thoughts, and rationality.

This indicates that the final end of Aengus’s quest and wandering is the eating of both types of apple, meaning the perfect harmony of the two aspects of his being: his lunar self, which is more instinctual, of the earth and belonging to the collective unconscious, and his solar self, rational, intellectual, and disciplined. In this reading, the "glimmering girl" is not an individual at all, but an aspect of Yeats' psyche, the primitive, carefree aspect, which he is not yet able to access fully, being too "disciplined", too "intellectual".

Of course, the apple, recalling Book of Genesis, is often associated with the sensual, and plucking apples may be equated to enjoying the sensual aspects of life. Ultimately, all of these clues provide several ways of reading “The Song of Wandering Aengus”, and no one interpretation can be advanced as superior to the exclusion of others. Fundamentally, this poem is about the hero's quest that is a motif in so much mythology and literature. What the hero seeks is elusive and there is no logical reason to believe he will find it, but he continues to have faith, and this faith gives his life meaning.

The popularity of this poem is attested to by the number of times it has been set to music, by artists such as Judy Collins, Richie Havens, Donovan and Christy Moore.

The Song of Wandering Aengus

By william butler yeats, the song of wandering aengus the mythical figure of aengus.

Yeats frequently referenced Irish myth and legend in his poetry. He belonged to, and was an important figure in, a wave of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century art that celebrated Irish culture and language, partially in the service of asserting Irish nationhood in the midst of the fight for independence from Britain. This poem is a prime example of Yeats evoking the Irish cultural tradition: Aengus (or Oengus) is a Celtic god of youth, poetry, and love. However, the work's evocation of this folkloric history is indirect, and Yeats avoids explicitly referring to any specific stories associated with Aengus. He uses the character as a baseline, from which to invent an entirely new story, albeit one full of the motifs of Celtic lore. Here, we will discuss several of the stories generally told about the figure of Aengus in the mythological tradition.

In Irish folklore, Aengus was the son of Dagda—himself the most important god in the Irish tradition. His mother was Boann, a river goddess. Because Boann was married when Aengus was conceived, legends describe the way that Dagda kept her pregnancy secret by manipulating time. Through this trick of altering time, Aengus was born on the same day as his conception. The grown Aengus is described as handsome and clever, often emitting a supernatural glow. Moreover, he was associated with springtime, new life, and rebirth, and was able to resurrect the dead through only the force of his breath. Aengus was also described as having a particular gift for wordplay. This gift, stemming from his association with poetry, is at the core of many legends surrounding him, including the story of how he obtained his inheritance.

In this story, Aengus is dismayed to discover that he has been excluded from his rightful inheritance—a piece of land, called Brú na Bóinne—by his father (in some versions, it is his stepfather rather than his father who slights him). Aengus, upset by this rejection, asks his father if he may spend " láa ocus aidche," or a day and a night, on the land. While his father assents, he is unaware that Aengus has tricked him with wordplay. In the Irish language, the phrase láa ocus aidche can mean "a day and a night," or, simply, "day and night." Therefore, Aengus is permitted to remain on the land day and night, meaning that it belongs to him. In this legend, poetic inspiration is not merely used for entertainment: it is a versatile, practical tool.

Of all the stories of Aengus, the one that Yeats comes closest to directly referencing is the tale of how he married Caer Ibormeith. In this legend, Aengus experiences vivid, recurring dreams about a beautiful girl. Devastated by his love, Aengus searched for the girl endlessly. He asked his parents as well as other gods for help finding her, but even these powerful beings are unable to determine her identity or whereabouts. Eventually, Aengus's half-brother Bodb Derg discovers the girl, along with 150 other girls, chained and imprisoned at Loch Bel Dracon. Aengus learns that these girls transform into swans at Samhain, the Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest and the start of winter. Aengus learns that, if he can identify the girl from his dreams as a swan, he will be permitted to marry her. Because Aengus himself has the power to shapeshift, he simply turns into a swan himself, and then speaks to his beloved in a shared animal language—thus allowing him to identify and marry her.

Though it is only through the name Aengus that Yeats makes an explicit reference to this set of myths, his poem contains a number of subtle references to or similarities to the broader Aengus mythology. The clearest of these is the speaker's unending, determined search for an elusive woman—although Yeats's Aengus does not find victory as easily as the Aengus of folklore. Yeats's poem does not specifically reference dreams, but it contains a dreamlike mood and logic that tie it to the story of Aengus's dreams. Meanwhile, both the legends of Aengus and Yeats's poem heavily feature motifs of transformation, whether of a fish into a woman or a woman into a swan. Folklore here appears to inspire and suffuse Yeats's work, rather than to limit and determine it.

The Song of Wandering Aengus Questions and Answers

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Study Guide for The Song of Wandering Aengus

The Song of Wandering Aengus study guide contains a biography of William Butler Yeats, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Song of Wandering Aengus
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