Aedh Wishes his Beloved were Dead by W.B. Yeats
The work centers on the speaker’s longing for a permanent, unchanging union with his beloved—one that can only be attained through death. He imagines a scene where her physical departure from life is transformed into a sustained, tender communion. In this vision, as the light fades in the West and the natural cycle of day turns to night, her death becomes a state in which she remains entirely within his reach. The imagery of natural elements—wild birds, cosmic bodies, and the fading lights—serves to elevate her beauty to a universal, almost mythic scale. Her hair is depicted as intertwined with the stars, moon, and sun, suggesting that her essence is bound up with the very fabric of the cosmos and that only in death does she reveal this deeper, eternal quality. The speaker’s desire for her to be dead is a complex expression of love and possession. He envisions that in death she would not escape the intimacy of their bond; rather, she would lie still, allowing him to rest against her and continuously hear her forgiving murmurs. Her lifeless state is portrayed not as a somber finality but as a means to secure a kind of perfection—a state where her natural urge for movement or escape (symbolized by the wild birds) is nullified by a cosmic order, rendering her eternally present and unchanging. Thus, the work reflects on themes of love, mortality, and the paradoxical yearning for a static beauty that can only be preserved through the totality of death.
By W.B. Yeats · First published 1893 · Genre: Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Romantic Poetry · 140 words
First lines
Were you but lying cold and dead, / And lights were paling out of the West, / You would come hither, and bend your head, / And I would lay my head on your breast;
And you would murmur tender words, / Forgiving me, because you were dead: / Nor would you rise and hasten away, / Though you have the will of the wild birds, / But know your hair was bound and wound / About the stars and moon and sun: / O would beloved that you lay / Under the dock-leaves in the ground, / While lights were paling one by one.
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Aedh Wishes his Beloved were Dead is listed on Textopian as a poem by W.B. Yeats, dated 1893 CE.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: W.B. Yeats
- Date: 1893 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Romantic Poetry, Symbolist Poetry, Tragic Romance
- Length: 140 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
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Genres
- Poetry — The work is structured in verse with a focus on imagery and emotion, characteristic of poetry.
- Lyric Poetry — It expresses personal, introspective emotions through a concentrated aesthetic form.
- Romantic Poetry — Themes of love, loss, and the interplay of life and death evoke a distinctly romantic sensibility.
- Symbolist Poetry — The recurring motifs of nature and cosmic imagery serve as symbols for deeper, abstract emotions.
Tags
Irish myth · symbolism · romanticism · poetic · death · love · passion · loss · fate · mythology · melancholy · desire