He'll hear no more the lowing
He'll hear no more... this suggests something is severed. I think the child no longer belongs to the human world.
He'll hear no more the lowing
He'll hear no more... this suggests something is severed. I think the child no longer belongs to the human world.
Away with us he's going,
sadly, this seems to mark the moment the enchantment has succeeded. This statement suggest the child was actually taken by the faeries.
And whispering in their ears
Secrecy here is very telling. The faeries "whisper" in their ears which suggests that the ritual of enchantment was still ongoing. Also their whisper highlights the faeries deceptive intentions because if their intentions were benevolent then there was no need for whispering
Glen-Car,
Is Glen-Car a real place, or is it a fictional setting Yeats created.
With a faery, hand in hand,
The image of the child going hand and hand with the faery shows the pattern throughout the poem. First the luring, then the ritual followed by the distraction of bubbles and finally physical contact. Hand and hand is the moment of capture.
And chase the frothy bubbles, While the world is full of troubles
The image of chasing "frothy bubbles" while the world is full of troubles suggests that the feary world is an elaborate distraction so while the world is full of troubles the faery will be luring children with bubbles.
Mingling hands and mingling glances
I found this part kind of creepy. The repetition of the word "mingling" in "mingling in hands and mingling glances" suggests a spell is taking place. The joining of hand and the exchange of glances working together to complete the spell and lure the child.
water rats
I am curious to know what a water rat is... it this an literal animal or does it carry symbolic meaning?
O human child!
Why didn't the faeries simply say child? The specification of human implies that the child's humanity is what they were seeking. perhaps it was something they themselves did not possess.
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand
The repetition of "the world's more full of weeping than you can understand is ambiguous because it can be interpretated as saving, but the title "The Stolen Child suggests the child was captured or lured.
ove, is it love or sleep or shadow or light
Personification is being portrayed here. He calls the women "sin" and I think he could be implying that she is tempting and dangerous and the other hand he refers to the man as "death" which could imply that its unstoppable and if I put them together one leads to the other so is the hermaphroditus sitting between the two somehow.
urning the fruitful feud of hers and his
I notice a push and pull between genders. are they competing because I sense tension
ex to sweet sex with lips and limbs is wed,
looking at the word "wed" it suggests a union of some short. Maybe a union of the sexes.