The Song of Wandering Aengus

The Song of Wandering Aengus by W B Yeats is a love poem based on Celtic mythology.

Notes and analysis
Videos
Ireland’s 100 favourite poems
W B Yeats

It tells of the search for love and unattainable beauty, and may owe some of its passion to Yeats’ own unrequited love for actress and Irish patriot Maud Gonne. He pursued her for more than 30 years but was always left disappointed.

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:
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.

The Song of Wandering Aengus
The Song of Wandering Aengus notes and analysis
The Song of Wandering Aengus videos
W B Yeats