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Lucie Horkov doc. Michael Matthew Kaylor, PhD. British Literature: 1890-1945 10th June 2013

The Human and the Non-Human: The Use of Contrast in W. B. Yeatss The Stolen Child

W. B. Yeatss poem The Stolen Child is inspired by the folk tradition and it represents two distinctive worlds the human and non-human which is inhabited by fairies and other magical creatures. Yeats uses these two worlds in contrast and some parts of the poem suggest that it is the magical world of fairies that is the more appealing and positive one. But when closely examined, this idea is not supported by the textual evidence and the positive character of the fairyland is at least doubtful, if not non-existent. The first stanza of the poem starts with a description of the place where the fairies live. It is the place: Where dips the rocky highland/of Sleuth Wood in the lake (1-2) thus it is probably quite secluded from the human habitation of the area. Neither the rocky highland nor the lake seems to be a convenient place to live for its seclusion and remoteness. It also probably does not provide many opportunities how to get food or grow crops. The island where the magical hideout is placed is leafy (3) and there are the drowsy water rats (5) and this description only adds to the feeling of inhospitableness expressed in the first two lines. And with this non-appealing vision of the human world the place where the fairies live is contrasted, it is: Full of berrys/And of reddest stolen cherries (7-8). These tasty fruits represent a tempting sensation offered to the human child that is being invited to the fairyland at the end of the first stanza. The fact that the fairies literary invite the child to come with them instead of commanding it or carrying it themselves hints that the human child has to

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follow the fairies by his own free will. This might be the reason why the worlds are depicted in such a contrastive way. The fairies plea also tries to show the human world as something negative: For the world more full of weeping than you can/understand (12-13). The first stanza therefore sets the pattern that is to be followed throughout the whole poem in a descriptive way, the human and fairy world are being contrasted with the human world appearing to be negative and the fairy world positive. The second stanza describes the night as it looks like in the fairy hideout. The shores of the lake from the first stanza are described as dim [and] gray (15) to fit in with the previous non-favourable description of the land surrounding the magic world. The moon, on the other hand, is supposed to be a part of the fairyland helping the fairies by its light when they are: Weaving olden dances/Mingling hands and mingling glances/Till the moon has taken flight (18-20). It also reveals the dimness and greyness of the shore and contrasts it not only with the jolly fairy dance, but also with its own moonlight [that] glosses (14). The pleasures that the fairy world presents are not unlike the activities that might be forbidden from a catholic point of view juicy berries and cherries mentioned in the first stanza temp to the sin of gluttony, the dances might be a foreplay to fornication and releasing lust. In general, the young men were tempted by fairies to join them in their dancing and were later danced to death. But as dancing usually has a strong sensual and sexual drive, the death might be la petite mort rather than a death in the literary sense of the word. Thus the dance is a complete liberation from the hard human lot, it is an escape from duties to joys. Another very negative depiction of the human world continues to strengthen the contrast between the two: While the world is full of troubles/And anxious in its sleep (23-24). The phrase anxious sleep is a complete opposite of what may be imagined under olden dances mentioned previously in the poem. Finally, the second stanza ends in the plea introduced at the end of the first stanza. This repetition emphasizes the insistence of the message about corrupted human world.

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The imagery used in the third stanza slowly breaks the pattern set by the first two stanzas because it does not provide any other description of the fairy world as such, but it gives a hint about the nature of the fairies. The magical creatures in old Irish and English folklore are not always friendly - usually it is the other way round. People have to be on guard against them and they should choose wisely what relationship they want to have with them. In the third stanza, the fairies seek for slumbering trout and they give its ears unquiet dreams. This does not seem very friendly or kind-hearted and one would probably not be tempted to dream these dreams if able to prevent it. Suddenly, the fairies seem different from what they first appeared to be they are not inviting, they are mischievous. But when repeating the refrain that asks the child to join them, they reaffirm their position of liberators and comforters that are helping the human child to have a better and happier life. In the last stanza, the contrast is used in quite the opposite way than in the rest of the poem. The set paradigm of negative depiction of the human world and positive depiction of the world of the fairies is turned upside down. The last stanza is the most epic one in the whole poem and it is an anti-thesis challenging the other stanzas and the visions they has built up. The child is stolen or rather persuaded by the fairies to join them and away with [them] hes going/The solemn-eyed (45-46). The expression solemn-eyed is an ambiguous one and it can be understood in two very different ways. Either the child is solemn-eyed because of the world he leaves the world depicted as troublesome, sad and boring place. The expression on the childs face is simply a remnant of the human world that will soon be replaced by a glee smile when he enters the fairy world. Or the child is solemn-eyed because at the very last moment he understands the true nature of the fairies and the superficial glamour of their habitat. The second explanation is supported by some other expressions that follow the first two lines of the last stanza. Once again, the human world is described and the depiction is more favourable from what was said about it in the rest of the poem. The image

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of the world the child is leaving has become a soothing pastoral idyll with the calves on the warm hillside (48). At the very last moment the child is seeing his world very differently and maybe he is even sorry to leave it because Hell hear no more . . . the kettle on the hob/Sing peace into his breast (47-50). What the child leaves is maybe a problematic and a bit dull world, but it has its bright moments too. When following the fairies, the child is left at the mercy of the mischievous fairies and there are no guarantees he will be taken care of to his liking. Even the refrain at the end of the stanza, although slightly altered, suddenly sounds different and ambiguous: For the worlds more full of weeping than he can understand (5657). The question appears what world is being spoken about. In the first three stanzas it was probably taken for granted that it is the human world that is full of troubles (23). But taken into account what was hinted about the fairies and their nature, there is no certainty it is really so. The contrast, so apparent at the beginning of the poem, has changed for almost the opposite. It does not give a clear answer about which of the world is actually full of weeping, but it suggests that the answer is not as clear-cut as it seemed at the beginning. In The Stolen Child, W. B. Yeats uses various contrastive imagery that he connects to two distinctive worlds the human and the magical one. At the beginning of the poem, the human world seems to be a negative place and the contrast helps to promote the world of the fairies as its more pleasant counterpart. The second stanza follows this pattern and deepens the contrast with the use of the impressive vision of the dance of the fairies. But the third and fourth stanzas doubt the set paradigm and put a new contrastive view in play what was at first described negatively seems to be positive and the other way round. By this skilful play with contrastive imagery, W. B. Yeats created a vivid piece of poetry that follows the folk tradition both in form and in content.

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Source
Yeats, William Butler. "The Stolen Child." The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems.Poets.org. Web. 10 June 2013.