Animism

One of the poem’s main themes might best be expressed by the term “animism,” referring to the attribution of a soul to natural phenomena. Though Yeats does not explicitly speak of souls, human or otherwise, in the poem, the way he describes plants, animals, water, and the moon gives a clear impression that these natural features each contain a spirit not unlike that of a human. By personifying nature and granting it agency, Yeats suggests that “the waters and the wild” (10) share the same life force that animates the human child.

From the herons that “wake / The drowsy water rats” (4-5) to the moon that “glosses / The dim gray sands with light” (13-14) to the ferns that “drop their tears” (36), nature behaves in intentional ways throughout the poem. Even the pools that “scarce could bathe a star” (31) are personified as having the ability to wash...