The Stolen Child : Key info
The Stolen Child is a notable literary work by William Butler Yeats. A complete discussion of this literary work is given, which will help you enhance your literary skills and prepare for the exam. Read the Main texts, Key info, Summary, Themes, Characters, Literary devices, Quotations, Notes, and various study materials of The Stolen Child.
Key info
Key Facts
- Poet: William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
- Original Title: The Stolen Child
- Written Time: 1886 (early period of Yeats’s writing career)
- First Published: 1886, in The Irish Monthly. Later included in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems (1889)
- Form: Ballad-style Lyric Poem
- Genre: Romantic, Mythical, and Symbolic Poetry
- Tone: Dreamlike, Melancholic, Enchanting, and Mournful
- Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCD (with a repeating refrain)
- Meter: Mostly Iambic Tetrameter and Iambic Trimester
- Point of View: Third Person (narrated through the voices of the fairies)
- Summary in a Line: Fairies tempt a human child to leave the sorrowful human world and join their magical land of eternal beauty.
- Total Lines: 48
- Total Stanzas: 4
- Setting:
- Time Setting: Mythical Ireland (inspired by ancient Celtic folklore)
- Place Setting: Irish landscapes like Sleuth Wood, Rosses, and Glen-Car. They blend real Irish nature with the fantasy world of the fairies.