• Lauditory qualifier -> "reddest" emphasises the apparent perfection that this mystical land entials
• Speaks of "stolen cherries" -> all adjectives prior to this are purely descriptive, 'stolen' adds a layer of mischief and a 'loss of innocence' to the poem
• Contrast -> "bubbles... troubles", takes away the innocent excitement of the mythical land - bubbles suggest freedom and troubles removes this freedom immediately

• Alliteration & assonance used -> this emphasises the Romantic and languid atmosphere the poem attempts to create, brings us to Sligo
• Onomatopoeia used -> "flapping" brings to life the business and excitment of what is unravelling
• Contrast -> "unquiet dreams", bullying the fish is what is seen as harsh in the eye of a child, this contrasts greatly to the reality of the harshness experienced in the real world

• Personification -> "ferns that dropped their tears, something sinister is being hidden from us and the child
• Reality -> "solumn eyed", child will no longer have the mortal pleasures he once had - the child is suddenly realising the seriousness of his decision, he is not experiencing the pleasures he was promised - he was lied to and betrayed
• Namelessness -> The "human child" is never give a name, worrying as shows fairies don't care for him as a person or individual

• "with a faery, hand in hand" -> image appears caring and loving, connotes closeness - also connotes equality as it is 'hand-in-hand' - both share the same weight
• "til the moon has taken flight" -> even the moon is free, looseness and freedom flood the entire poem - energy is always present / also signifying that the child is leaving the moon behind as well - isolation, even the moon leaves him
• "calves", "kettles" & "mice" -> creating the image of a country home, denoting how modern society has enslaved nature
• "in pools among the rushes/ that coud scare bathe a star" -> pools are so tiny that eveny the reflection of a star from the night-sky cannot be captured in it - emphasising the smallness of the island and the isolation - even the stars can't reach the ground

• Narrative form -> reflects that it is about Irish folklore as it is told like a story
• Refrain -> final line in each stanza has a larger refrain, because it contains the main message of the poem
• End stopping at the end of final lines in each stanza - > emphasising the finality and stability of the statement - irony as the line speaks about political instability in Ireland

• Published in 1889, when Yeats was 21 - one of his earliest poems and so is a lot more implicit
• Based in Sligo, Ireland, where Yeats visited a lot in his youth - also his mother's hometown
• Based on an Irish legends - which Yeats' mother loved
• Poem was written before modernism - Romatic period still lingers in this poem
• Written after meeting John O'Leary who suggested he write about real Irish places

• Easter 1916 -> Yeats portrays his disappointment with modern society, as it has enslaved nature and turned beautiful things ugly - like how in Easter 1916, Con's voice turns "shrill" 
• The Fisherman -> both speak about perfections that are unattainable in reality
• The Wild Swans at Coole -> beauty is a key focal point in both poems, but behind this beauty is an ugly truth - The Stolen Child = child is in danger, The Wild Swans t Coole, ageing changes who we are and steals our naivety and innocence

"Come away O human child/ To the waters and the wild/ With a faery hand in hand/ For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand"

"In pools among the rushes/ That scarce could bathe a star"

"From ferns that drop their tears"

"And chase the frothy bubbles/ While the world is full of troubles"

"Til the moon has taken flight"