You can listen to the whole Donovan song here. And here's the original Yeats poem, "The Song of Wandering Aengus." I recommend memorizing that and having conversations about it. We did and do.
May 7, 2026
Song of the Wandering Althouse.
Tags:
Donovan,
memorization,
off-blog Althouse,
photos by Meade,
Yeats

17 comments:
Great video and poem. Donovan has a fake British accent? And Yeats said pluck when he meant fu*k.
"And Yeats said pluck when he meant fu*k."
Is that what they taught you in college?
Trip at 5 second mark.
Epstein note ? OMG, this cannot be true?.
You look like a taller, slimmer Stevie Nicks. Maybe score this to 'Rhiannon.' CC, JSM
Althouse rings like a bell through the night, and
Wouldn't you love to comment?
Takes to the trail with sunrise in sight, and
Won't she blog about it?
All your life you've never seen a woman
Cruel neutralit-ee-ee
Would you stay if she promised you heaven?
Would she blog with thee?
Would she blog with thee-ee-ee?
She runs to the lake in the dark, and then
She is the darkness
She rules her life like a fine skylark, and when
The sky is starless
All your life you've never seen a woman
Cruel neutralit-ee-ee
Would you stay if she promised you heaven?
Would she blog with thee?
Would she blog with thee-ee-ee?
Aaalllt-house
Taken by, taken by the blo-og....
Laws unwind
Blog's a state of mind
Laws unwind
Blog's a state of mind
&c
CC, JSM
Is that Edgar Winters? Or Johnny?
I can never tell them apart from the back.
What a beautiful poem! It reminds me of "Paul's Wife".
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/robert_frost/poems/735
@josephbleau What? They are plucking apples.
"And pluck till time and times are done,
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun."
Yeah, you could think that's "Fuck" but that doesn't make much sense. But there's a whole army of people who think artists "back then" were smuggling in profanity or vulgarity.
Yeats really put one past the censors and blue noses harhar.
That aside, I think its a great poem.
I thought of Stevie Nicks too.
Sorry you lost your leg, or shouldn't I have mentioned that?
“ @josephbleau What? They are plucking apples.”
Well a fish turns into a girl on his floor, what am I supposed to think, it’s a great poem but poetry expands reality by evocative formation.
“ said...
"And Yeats said pluck when he meant fu*k."
Is that what they taught you in college?”
Now I am kind of embarrassed, my undergrad was in mining engineering so actually I did not study much Yeats, I guess I just had to figure out things like that out for myself. But I know a lot about plucking gold and silver though.
"CC, JSM
5/7/26, 3:47 PM"
Another good one.
“ 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,”
QED
I once had several Yeats poems memorized but not that one.
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