The poem by William Butler Yeats that Francesca quotes in the novel — the line about the white moths on the wing — is titled "The Song of Wandering Aengus" and could serve as an extended metaphor for the book as a whole. It is about a wanderer who once hooked from a stream a silver trout that turned into a "glimmering girl," and now that he is old and finished with wandering he wants to find her again and spend his time until it is gone picking the silver and golden apples of the moon and sun. The themes of wandering, a chance discovery of the right "girl," wishing to spend time with her but not knowing how to, and the poem's lament for lost opportunities fairly well sum up the general themes and tone.....
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