Aedh Tells of a Valley Full of Lovers
The work narrates a visionary journey through a mystical valley where the presence of passionate lovers and the memory of a long-lost beloved intertwine. The narrator describes a dreamlike scene in which couples move together in a serene, almost enchanted landscape. Amid this procession, the appearance of a spectral, deeply remembered love stirs an outpouring of longing and a call for the young to indulge in the beauty of fleeting moments. The recalled encounter is both sensual and otherworldly, as the dream captures the ethereal quality of love that is both transcendent and doomed to be ephemeral. The text merges themes of beauty, desire, and decay by invoking images of tender intimacy and inevitable loss. There is a sense of ritual in the lovers’ movements, symbolizing the cyclical nature of passion and the transient quality of physical attraction. The presence of the lost love further underscores the idea that memory and yearning persist even as time erodes youthful charm and vitality. The poetic voice commands a kind of sacramental celebration of physical beauty—a temporary respite from the unavoidable march toward withering and oblivion. Underlying the narrative is an exploration of the tension between idealized romanticism and the harsh reality of impermanence. The work portrays love as an experience that, while powerful and intensely beautiful in its immediacy, ultimately succumbs to the forces of time. This interplay between vibrant passion and the inevitability of decay positions the dream as both a tribute to romantic ardor and a meditation on the limits of mortal experience.
By W.B. Yeats · First published 1899 · Genre: Poetry, Romantic Poetry, Lyric · 114 words
First lines
I dreamed that I stood in a valley, and amid sighs, / For happy lovers passed two by two where I stood; / And I dreamed my lost love came stealthily out of the wood / With her cloud-pale eyelids falling on dream-dimmed eyes: / I cried in my dream '_O women bid the young men lay / 'Their heads on your knees, and drown their eyes with your hair, / 'Or remembering hers they will find no other face fair / 'Till all the valleys of the world have been withered away._'
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Aedh Tells of a Valley Full of Lovers is listed on Textopian as a poem by W.B. Yeats, dated 1899 CE.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: W.B. Yeats
- Date: 1899 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Romantic Poetry, Lyric, Symbolism, Mythopoeia
- Length: 114 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
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Genres
- Poetry — The work is written in verse, emphasizing language, form, and rhythm characteristic of poetry.
- Romantic Poetry — Themes of love, longing, and idealized passion pervade the work, placing it firmly in the romantic tradition.
- Lyric — The poem expresses personal emotion and subjective experience through its evocative, dreamlike imagery.
- Symbolism — The use of vivid metaphors and symbols, such as valleys and dreamy landscapes, imbues the text with deeper layers of meaning.
Tags
fantastical · allegorical · mythological · folklore · romantic · symbolic · mystical · supernatural · visionary · poetic · otherworldly · fable