Summary of Poem "The Song of Wandering Aengus" by W.B. Yeats

The poem "The Song of Wandering Aengus" is about a man named Aengus who falls in love with a woman he sees in a dream. He spends his life searching for her and eventually finds her as a beautiful young woman fishing in a stream. However, as he approaches her, she transforms into a swan and flies away.

Explanation of Poem

The Quest for Love
The poem begins with Aengus, who is a wandering poet, reflecting on his desire for love. He describes how he has been searching for a woman he saw in a dream, who has "changed my countenance" and left him feeling restless and unfulfilled. Aengus is on a quest to find this woman and make her his own.

The Vision of Love
Aengus's search takes him to a "hollow reed" where he sees a vision of the woman he has been seeking. In this vision, she is "a glimmering girl" who is "pale as a waning moon." Aengus is captivated by her beauty and decides to follow her wherever she may lead him.

The Transformation
Aengus's pursuit of the woman leads him to a stream where he sees her fishing. As he approaches her, she transforms into a swan and flies away, leaving Aengus alone and heartbroken. Despite his disappointment, Aengus decides to continue his search for love, knowing that he may never find the woman he is looking for.

Themes

The main themes of the poem are love, desire, and the quest for fulfillment. Aengus's search for the woman he saw in his dream represents his longing for love and his desire to find someone who can bring him happiness. The woman's transformation into a swan represents the fleeting nature of love and how it can be difficult to capture and hold onto. Despite the disappointment and heartache, Aengus remains committed to his quest for love, showing that the search for fulfillment is a lifelong journey.

Overall, "The Song of Wandering Aengus" is a poignant and beautiful poem that captures the universal human desire for love and the search for meaning in life.

Summary of the poem

The poem is basically a conversation between the poet, Yeats and a young girl named Anne Gregory. The poet tells her that if she finds a young boy who becomes sad because of her rejection, it doesn’t mean that he was a true lover. He could have been in love with her because of her beautiful yellow hair. This means that the boy might be in love with her because of her attractive looks. He says that a true lover will be the one who will love her for her inner qualities and not her looks. To this, Anne says that she will change her looks by dying her hair into some other colour. She will become less attractive and then, maybe, she will find a true love for herself. So, at last, he explains to her that the previous night, he had heard some religious man saying that only God loves us for what we are. This means that God never loves us for our looks but for our inner beauty.