Both William Butler Yeats’ poem “The Stolen Child” and Henry Chapin’s song “Cat’s in the Cradle” describe a fascinating tale about two children: one is being whisked away by fairies, while the other’s childhood is being stolen by his father, respectively. These two works share a number of differences, such as the fact that one takes place in a mystical, magical forest, while the other takes place in a more realistic, down-to-earth setting. Despite their differences, however, they share one crucial similarity: both works acknowledge an earth-shattering epiphany found in the final refrain. Even though there are numerous differences, the most important one is the fact the two works have radically different settings. Yeats’ “The Stolen Child” takes place in a mystical, fantastical, and surreal forest housing fairies. This creates a different mood in the reader compared to Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle”. It takes place in a realistic household. The song has a father and a son in it; most people can relate to it more that they can to fairies and enchanted forests. …show more content…
In “The Stolen Child”, every refrain reads as follows: “Come away, O human child! / To the waters and the wild / With a faery, hand in hand, / For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.” In this quote, a “faery” (fairy) is talking to a child, convincing him to go with the fairy into the forest. The last refrain, however, reads as follows: “For here he comes, the human child, / To the waters and the wild / With a faery, hand in hand, / From a world more full of weeping than he can understand.” The change in point of view implies that the fairy, in the last refrain, is talking to another entity, possibly another fairy, instead of the