English Class

The Daily Deac returns from break today.  It’s April now, and we hope you are starting to feel the magic of spring wherever you are.

One of the most legendary Wake Forest English classes was “Blake, Yeats, and Thomas,” taught by Dr. Edwin G. Wilson (’43).  That class, along with “British Romantic Poets,” was one you had to plot and plan and pray to get into because demand was so high.

Whether you were an English major or not, there was something magic about Dr. Wilson’s classes.  He has a rich and lyrical voice and a gift for pausing at just the right moment to let the words sink in.

You can’t take his class anymore, as he is retired.  However, here is one of my favorites from his class.

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THE SONG OF WANDERING AENGUS – by W.B. Yeats

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;

And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And some one called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun