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 streamAnd caught a little silver trout.
When I had laid it on the floorI 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 girlWith apple blossom in her hairWho called me by my name and ranAnd faded through the brightening air.
Though I am old with wanderingThrough 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.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- hilly a.
- Abounding with hills; uneven in surface; as, a hilly country.
- dappled a.
- Marked with spots of different shades of color; spotted; variegated; as, a dapple horse.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Song of Wandering Aengus is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Wind Among the Reeds, Project Gutenberg ebook #32233; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. B. Yeats, The Song of Wandering Aengus, in The Wind Among the Reeds (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32233, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-wind-among-reeds/the-song-of-wandering-aengus.html, id L04521.
Form and metre
The Song of Wandering Aengus is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A-B-B wood · headA · wand · threadA · wing · outB · stream · troutB
- 2 ABAB-C-C floorA · flameB · floorA · nameB · girl · hairC · ran · airC
- 3 -A-A-B-B wandering · landsA · gone · handsA · grass · doneB · moon · sunB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I went out to the hazel wood, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Because a fire was in my head, | 8 | ···/···· |
| And cut and peeled a hazel wand, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And hooked a berry to a thread; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And when white moths were on the wing, | 8 | ········ |
| And moth-like stars were flickering out, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I dropped the berry in a stream | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And caught a little silver trout. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| When I had laid it on the floor | 8 | ········ |
| I went to blow the fire a-flame, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| But something rustled on the floor, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And someone called me by my name: | 8 | ·/······ |
| It had become a glimmering girl | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| With apple blossom in her hair | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Who called me by my name and ran | 8 | ········ |
| And faded through the brightening air. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Though I am old with wandering | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Through hollow lands and hilly lands, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I will find out where she has gone, | 8 | ········ |
| And kiss her lips and take her hands; | 8 | ········ |
| And walk among long dappled grass, | 8 | ······˘· |
| And pluck till time and times are done, | 8 | ········ |
| The silver apples of the moon, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The golden apples of the sun. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.