Heathens, Pagans and Witches discussion

This is the thread for discussing our non-fiction book choice for April and May.

Chosen by Michael - hopefully he's around somewhere :)

Hello I am Annie Finch, a pagan poet and writer--and a big Yeats fan! I'm happy to be part of this group and delighted to find WBY discussed here. What better way to celebrate poetry month among pagans?

For those who haven't seen it, the giant exhibition about Yeats at the National Library in Dublin is stunning, with sections devoted to his politics, theater, love life, and of course his spiritual explorations as well as detailed and complex high-tech exhibitions about his poems. He is one of the few poets whose work divides richly and clearly into periods or phases. so that early Yeats is quite a different poet from middle or late Yeats--rather like Picasso's periods.

I am a big fan of early Yeats which is the most explicitly pagan period, also the source of then most musical and easiest to memorize poems. At 13 i copied the refrain of "The Stolen Child" on the first page of my journal; it was one of the first times, maybe the first time, i knew there had been other pagans in the world. It is the word "human" that moves me the most in that poem. On one level it a sign that the fairies are talking, but on another level, to a child caught in a dysfunctional family with little apparent consciousness of what it meant to live as a human in human community, it was also a reminder that there is another way and place where it is safer to be fully human: the world of nature and faerie, the pagan world, the world of poetry.

The pagan poems are my favorites too - The Song of Wandering Aengus possibly the most dearly loved.

Oh yes, I have loved Yeats since I was a little girl; my mother used to read to his poems to me and often. I knew ever since then that I wanted to be a writer.

My favorite poem of his is, "The Song of the Wandering Aengus" as well as, "The Stolen Child".

Welcome to the group, Annie. It is lovely to meet you.

Nell, I really enjoyed the collective mail you sent on another Irishman, George William Russell. I knew of his artwork but not so much of his writing. Thank you so much for enlightening me; I am becoming fascinated by him.

I love this group.

Fallen Star Poet wrote: "I love this group. "

I so agree. :):)

Just ordered in a copy from the library so I'll join in the discussions soon.

Hello Everyone.

I chose this book and I'm thrilled we have some Yeats afficiandos. I don't really lead discussions but my wish is simply this: that everyone post their favorite poem by Yeats, and why you like it so. Then I invite others (including me!) to read it. since I'm here, I'll share mine: The Lake of Innissfree. why? for one, Yeats said it was his favorite. second, though I love the intricacies and rhyming rhythms of Under Ben Bulben, after a busy stressful day I ESCAPE to the Lake of Innissfree poem. Now, do me a small favor: tell me YOUR favorite, and why. AND BE EMOTIONAL, Yeats, I feel, grabs me in ways that even I don't understand. whispering faeries, beautiful scenes, and direct communication to the SOUL appeal emotionally sometimes with no intellect attached!

Happy Full Moon,

Michael

Hi Michael, you're not expected to 'lead' in the literal sense (unless you want to) - just as long as you're around to comment now and then :)

Thanks, Chief.

I'm just waiting on a copy from the library Michael then I'll be back with my favourite.:):)

The Song of Wandering Aengus has been my favourite for as long as I can remember. Titles are so important and I love the air of mystery of this, the questions it raises - why is he wandering, and where - the image of Aengus that appears immediately; alone, simply dressed (perhaps in a hooded cloak like the tarot hermit) wonderfully and romantically solitary and all the while singing his song.

Truly I believe that the words should be sung - Old-Barbarossa posted a link to a beautiful video with music and song by Christy Moore, but for some reason it became obsolete and I had to replace it with a later one which is not quite as lovely - it's in the group's video cache.

But to return to Aengus...

I love the simplicity of the song as it unfolds - no clever poetic tricks - the magic is in the strangeness and beauty of the story, beginning with Aengus going out to the hazel wood Because a fire was in my head... and the magical act of making the hazel wand and hooking ...a berry to a thread.

But then every single line is magical. The white moths on the wing, the moth-like stars flickering out, the act of dropping the berry in a stream and catching the little fish.

And the magic goes on with the transformation of the little fish into ... a glimmering girl, who after calling Aengus by his name ...faded through the brightening air.

I love that he's ...old with wandering... and wonder if he's also old in years. I feel sure he's not a young hero, although he's clearly a romantic one, and has seen things in those ...hollow lands and hilly lands that combine in the mind to become 'hollow hills', the abode of the Shining Ones, the faeries, the Sidhe.

I did say earlier in this post that there are no clever tricks with words, which is not quite true, as I can't help wondering about Yeats' choice of the word 'pluck' in the third line from the end :) but the romance and magic remain intact, possibly thanks to the unforgettable last two lines.

I've been more analytical than perhaps you wanted Michael, but as a sometime poet I can't really help it. It's worth mentioning also that repetition is very difficult to manage successfully without upsetting the balance and music of the poem, but here the repeated words add to the magic and somehow come across as the authentic voice of Aengus.

Thank you, Nell. Can someone tell me briefly who the Sidhe were? Yeats uses references to several mythological figures, and I've never had the time to look up the meanings of these figures. Who were the Sidhe? I think of the poem "The Hosting of the Sidhe". (I could be greedy and even ask about Caoilte and Niamh). Thanks in advance.

"The aos sí (Irish pronunciation: [iːs ˈʃiː], "ees shee", older form aes sídhe [eːs ˈʃiːðʲə]), "ays sheeth-uh") is the Irish term for a supernatural race in Irish mythology and Scottish mythology, (usually spelled Sìth, however pronounced the same) comparable to the fairies or elves. They are said to live underground in fairy mounds, across the western sea, or in an invisible world that coexists with the world of humans. This world is described in the Book of Invasions (recorded in the Book of Leinster) as a parallel universe in which the aos sí walk amongst the living. In the Irish language, aos sí means "people of the mounds" (the mounds are known in Irish as "the sídhe"). In Irish literature the people of the mounds are also called daoine sídhe [ˈdiːnʲə ˈʃiːə]; in Scottish mythology they are daoine sìth. They are variously said to be the ancestors, the spirits of nature, or goddesses and gods.

Some secondary and tertiary sources including well-known and influential authors such as W.B. Yeats refer to aos sí simply as "the sídhe" (lit.: mounds)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aos_S%C3%AD