The Song of Wandering Aengus | W.B. Yeats | Summary | Generations | Grade XII
Short summary:
In
the poem, poet catches a small trout which magically transforms into a fairy girl.
He prepares to cook the fish, but it transforms into a fairy girl, who then
vanishes into the sunbeam. He is so entranced by the girl, who represents for
him his heart’s dearest wish, that he spends years and years looking for that
girl, hoping to meet her again, ending the poem as an old man. Not a defeated
old man, but one who still holds hopes that he will encounter the woman again.
Poet probably intends us to think about people who devote their lives to
following a dream. In one sense, this is a good thing, it gives a life purpose.
Summary
The
speaker in the poem is Aengus, who becomes old wandering his whole life for a
girl. Aengus says that he went to the forest for making fishing hook and sticks
a berry on it to attract the fishes. At that time the butterflies are flying
and flickering, Aengus dropped the berry in the stream and caught a fish a
little silver trout.
Aengus
tells that after catching the fish, he laid it on the floor and went to start
the fire when he heard a rustling noise and his name being called. Aengus turned
to find that the fish he had caught, which had turned into a glimmering girl
with apple blossom in her hair. This beautiful girl again calls Aengus by his
name and runs into the woods, disappearing in the brightening air.
Now,
Aengus tells us that a lot of time has passed since that incident happened; he
has now grown old but has never stopped wandering around the globe in search of
that girl. He is determined to find out where the girl has vanished and once he
finds her, he promises to kiss her lips and hold her hands. Aengus imagines
walking in green pastures with her, holding her hands for ages and ages, under
the moonlight and the sun.
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