The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems (1889) Quotes

Quotes

You who are bent, and

bald, and blind,

With a heavy heart and a

wandering mind,

Have known three

centuries, poets sing,

Of dalliance with a

demon thing

Narrator, Book One, "The Wanderings of Oisin"

The narrator is laying the groundwork for explaining Oison's advanced age. He is also trying to explain how it is possible for an ordinary man to have lived for so long. The poem opens by drawing in the reader, telling us that there is an old man, who appears as old as his three hundred years; in case it sounds wholly unlikely that a man has lived that long, the narrator reminds us that there is written witness to this longevity, because poets have written about Oisin's century-long battle with a demon.

Away with us he's going,

The solemn-eyed:

He'll hear no more the lowing

Of the calves on the warm hillside

Or the kettle on the hob

Sing peace into his breast

Or see the brown mice bob

Round and round the oatmeal chest.

Narrator, from the Faery perspective, "The Stolen Child"

This part of the poem is the most pastoral and reminds the reader not only of the boy's life but also of the poet's roots in Ireland as well. All of the familiar things that the boy loves will become inaccessible and alien to him. His world is vastly different to the faery world. It is almost stereotypically Irish in that we are asked to picture a farmhouse where there is a kettle on the stove ready to make tea for the family and for visitors; there is a view of the cows on the hillside from the window; there is an oatmeal chest where mice play. It is a sweet and pleasant scene and this is soon to be stolen from the child the faeries are determined to take.

She bid me take life easy, as the

grass grows on the weirs;

But I was young and foolish, and now

am full of tears.

Speaker, "Down by the Salley River"

The Speaker is melancholy throughout the poem. and this is an example of this malady. He is thinking back over his life and what might have been. When his love offered him her love, he did not act appropriately. He is now deeply regretful. He also seems very lonely and is looking back to realize that this could have been avoided.

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