The Stolen Child
- Created by: thecatwithnohat
- Created on: 08-05-14 23:45
The Stolen Child
· A metaphor for the return to innocence, which is characterised by childhood
· Yeats desired to write poetry of ‘longing and complaint’ – not story of being taken from the ‘real’ world but escape to faeryland
· The dichotomy (contrast) of a ‘fantasy’ world and the world of reality
o Represents dissatisfaction with the real world
o Nationalism/Irish concerns – link to ‘The Fisherman’/’September 1913’ – dissatisfaction with contemporary Ireland and the values of the people in comparison to the ideals and values of the Romantic nationalists and the nationalist heroes
o ‘wandering water gushes’ – images of freedom of the faeryland/Ireland?
o ‘scarce’, star’, ‘seek’, ‘slumbering’ – sibilance conveys dreamlike/ethereal quality
o ‘the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand’, ‘To and fro we leap / And chase the frothy bubbles, While the world is full of troubles / And is anxious in its sleep’ – contrast between the real world and the faeryland
o The change in the final refrain makes it almost accusatory, 2nd person used to emphasise innocence/obliviousness of the child. ‘a world more full of weeping than he can understand.’
· The comparison of natural/romantic Ireland and the faeryland
o Not quite sure which he is talking about at points
o ‘Where dips the rocky highland / Of Sleuth Wood in the lake’, ‘leafy…
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