Garden Yeats


Down by the Salley Gardens

Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.

In a field by the river my love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.

This is the first poem by Yeats that I remember reading. It’s probably my favorite boy-meets-girl-loses-same poem. It’s definitely among my favorite poems to recite. It’s reliably lyrical and never grows tired.

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8 responses to “Garden Yeats”

  1. It’s probably my favorite boy-meets-girl-loses-same poem.

    You’re just saying that because you haven’t heard I’m Like Yeah, But She’s All No by the Mr. T Experience. Yeats is small potatoes when it comes to lyrics about boys failing in relationships with girls; Dr. Frank and the MTX will change your perspective on the matter. I personally guarantee it.

    “Boy meets girl. Girl teases boy. Boy looks for something to destroy…”

  2. My favorite boy meets girl poem from Yeats is:

    No Second Troy

    WHY should I blame her that she filled my days
    With misery, or that she would of late
    Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways,
    Or hurled the little streets upon the great,
    Had they but courage equal to desire?
    What could have made her peaceful with a mind
    That nobleness made simple as a fire,
    With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind
    That is not natural in an age like this,
    Being high and solitary and most stern?
    Why, what could she have done being what she is?
    Was there another Troy for her to burn?

    I would have posted this properly, but I have forgotten where I go to post. Simply can’t find it. Sorry

  3. Just below the calendar on the left (way down due to the long list of categories and archive dates), there is an “other” section. If you are logged in, it will give you two options: (1) logout, and (2) site admin. The “site admin” link allows you to do any/all the stuff you are authorized to do—writing new posts, editing old posts, creating categories, etc. If you are not logged in, that’s where you’ll find the login link.

    Your general point is well taken, though. The site design is rather poor. I threw it together far too quickly and have never really had time to clean it up. Plus, I’m not a great designer. I can put the login links wherever you’d like, and I suppose I can change the link text as well (though not until next week when I return from Minneapolis)—where would you like them, and how would you like them to appear?

    More generally still, any suggestions are always welcome. In fact, if you’d like to play around with the site design, I can probably create a test site and authorize anyone to change the files to test design changes (alternatively, you can edit local style files pretty easily, particularly if you use Firefox—ask if you want details). If you’re wanting to test your design talents, I’d be happy to enable you.

    Finally, if you see some ready-packaged design you’d like us to use, we can do that, too. There are a zillion ready-to-use themes for WordPress

  4. Actually, now that you mention it…

    • I’d like to be able to click on the Mind of Winter banner and be taken to the main page. I don’t use the home link.
    • I’d like it if the login link that I do use were where the home link that I never use is now.
    • It might be nice if the Archives and Categories tables could expand and collapse. I think they ought to be there, but I don’t think they get much mileage.

    I believe the order of handiness regarding the sidebar is

    1. Comments box — awesome
    2. Login link — can’t post without it
    3. Search — because you might want to find something
    4. And the rest — are here on Gilligan’s Isle.
  5. Come to think of it, since I press both login and logout(?) just to log in to post stuff, let’s just have a big kindergarten-sized button that says Sing, O Muse! somewhere near the top of the page.

  6. I press both login and logout(?) just to log in

    What’s this? What do you mean? If you’re already logged in (so that you see the logout link), clicking the “site admin” link takes you straight in. No need to logout and log back in, if that’s what you’ve been doing. I will definitely work on the site when I get a chance. I can’t do much from here at work, but I’ll try to steal some time next week. Making the archives/categories collapsible will take some time, though. That will require me to learn some extra scripting – particularly if you want it to work on browsers like MS Internet Explorer. I’m not so good with the dynamic presentation stuff. But I’ll see what I can do.

  7. If you’re already logged in (so that you see the logout link), clicking the “site admin” link takes you straight in.

    Oh. I thought it had something to do with the administration or administrator of the site. Silly user I am.

    Making the archives/categories collapsible will take some time, though.

    Have you noticed the pace of this board? There are no hurries here.

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