"The Song of Wandering Aengus" is a poem byIrish poetW. B. Yeats. It was first printed in 1897 in British magazineThe Sketch under the title "A Mad Song."[1] It was then published under its standard name in Yeats' 1899 anthologyThe Wind Among the Reeds.[1] It is especially remembered for its two final lines: "The silver apples of the moon,/ The golden apples of the sun."
The poem is told from the point of view of an old man who, at some point in his past, had a fantastical experience in which a silvertrout he had caught and laid on the floor turned into a "glimmering girl" who called him by his name, then vanished; he became infatuated with her, and remains devoted to finding her again.[1]
In an 1899 letter to fellow poetDora Sigerson, Yeats called "The Song of Wandering Aengus" "the kind of poem I like best myself—a ballad that gradually lifts ... from circumstantial to purely lyrical writing."[2]
Yeats later said that "the poem was suggested to me by a Greek folk song; but the folk belief of Greece is very like that of Ireland, and I certainly thought, when I wrote it, of Ireland, and of the spirits that are in Ireland."[3] At least one scholar has pointed to the Greek folk song "The Fruit of the Apple Tree" as the likely source of Yeats' inspiration.[3] That song was included in a volume of Greek poetry translated byLucy Garnett, which Yeats had written a review of in 1896.[3][4]
It has been claimed that the poem's story is based on theIrish godAengus, and specifically the story of the "Dream of Aengus", which had first appeared in the 8th century, in which Aengus falls in love with a woman whom he sees only in his dreams.[5]
The poem has also been compared to theaisling genre of Irish poetry, in which a magical woman appears who represents the country of Ireland.[2]
The phrases "the silver apples of the moon" and "the golden apples of the sun" have both inspired the names of various bands (including theSilver Apples), albums (includingSilver Apples of the Moon byMorton Subotnick), books (includingThe Golden Apples of the Sun byRay Bradbury andThe Golden Apples byEudora Welty) and films.
In the 2002 episode "Rogue Planet" of the TV seriesStar Trek: Enterprise, a member of a shape-shifting, telepathic alien species takes the form of a young woman to communicate with CaptainJonathan Archer, based on Archer's own childhood memories of hearing the poem.[6]
The poem is also referenced in the 1992 novelThe Bridges of Madison County andits 1995 film adaptation, as well as inThe Leftovers episode "No Room at the Inn" (2015).[7]
The most famous musical setting of the poem was byTravis Edmonson of the folk duoBud & Travis. Edmonson titled the song "Golden Apples of the Sun", and it was released on the 1960 Bud & Travis albumNaturally: Folk Songs for the Present. Their version has been covered, sometimes as "Golden Apples of the Sun" and sometimes as "The Song of Wandering Aengus", by artists includingJudy Collins (on the albumGolden Apples of the Sun, 1962),Terry Callier (onThe New Folk Sound of Terry Callier, 1965),Dave Van Ronk (onNo Dirty Names, 1966),Christy Moore (onRide On, 1984),Karan Casey (onSonglines, 1997),Paul Winter (onCeltic Solstice, 1999),10,000 Maniacs (onTwice Told Tales, 2015) andTiny Ruins (onHurtling Through, 2015).
Additionally, the poem was set to music byDonovan (onHMS Donovan, 1971),[8] and its Italian cover was recorded byAngelo Branduardi (onBranduardi canta Yeats, 1986). Other adaptations include those byThe Waterboys (onAn Appointment with Mr Yeats, 2011),[9] andJohnny Flynn (onSillion, 2017).
