Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Come away, O human child!

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand
I think these lines from W. B. Yeats, taken from his long poem, The Stolen Child, capture one of the most beautiful reasons why authors throughout the ages have written faerie tales. That deep-rooted desire to catch at something bigger, broader, more terrifying and more beautiful, than the natural world can hold. That longing for the Other, that nameless Other, that finds its breath in the unhindered imagination.
Yeats is one of my favorite poets, but I had not read this poem until just yesterday. I love discovering those who can say in a few lines what I try to say in whole novels! Yeats, my dear, you humble and move me.

4 comments:

Jill Stengl said...

I'm thinking it's going to take your readers awhile to catch on here, since even I just now discovered your two new posts!
Really like your fairytale, but you knew that. ;-)

Warren Baldwin said...

Linked here from Lauren's blog where I read her review of your new book. I haven't read much Yeats, but I do enjoy poetry sometimes. I, too, admire how someone can take some deep, complicated thoughts and distill them into something brief and memorable.

Good post. wb

Anonymous said...

I just finished HEARTLESS and it was wonderful! I love how multi-faceted Una is, and the dragons were breathtaking. I'm excited about more tales from Goldstone Wood.

Anne Elisabeth Stengl said...

@ Warren: I highly recommend Yeats if you enjoy poetry. He's a good one even for those of us who don't often read poetry.

@BibliOwl: So glad that you enjoyed my story! I had a wonderful time writing it and am blessed to have such an opportunity. Keep your eyes open for the second in the series, "Veiled Rose," which comes out next summer! It should be up on Amazon very soon now . . . .