Let's face it: we've all been love-struck at some point in our lives. We meet that very special someone with their oh-so-cool Nikes or their awesome haircut and we're smitten. "The Song of Wandering Aengus" is about that experience of love at first sight—or rather, love at second sight. After all, the beautiful girl whom Aengus falls in love with isn't a beautiful girl when he first sees her; she's, you know, a fish. The point is, this is a poem that dwells on the magic of love and how obsessed we get when we meet that special, "glimmering" someone.
Questions About Love
- How do we know that the speaker has fallen in love with the glimmering girl? After all, the word "love" is never used in this poem.
- In the original Celtic myth, Aengus is reunited with the girl he meets and falls in love with. In Yeats' poem, this doesn't happen. Why does Yeats change the myth in this way? What is he trying to say about love, do you think?
- What's the relationship between nature and love in this poem?
- Aengus spends his whole life looking for the glimmering girl. Is this guy too obsessed?
Chew on This
Aengus isn't in love. He's obsessed with the glimmering girl. Love and obsession aren't the same thing, gang.
Aengus is obsessed with the glimmering girl because he's in love with her. Love and obsession are, in fact, the same thing.