Down by the Salley Gardens
A musical setting of a poem by WB Yeats which he said was "an attempt to reconstruct an old song from three lines imperfectly remembered by an old peasant woman in the village of Ballisodare, County Sligo, who often sings them to herself."
He appears to be remembering a verse from “ The Rambling Boys of Pleasure".
Down by yon flowery garden my love and I we first did meet.
I took her in my arms and to her I gave kisses sweet
She bade me take life easy just as the leaves fall from the tree.
But I being young and foolish, with my darling did not agree.
The rest of the poem is different, but it was not unusual for poets to build on verses from old ballads. The poem first appeared under its present title when it was reprinted in Poems in 1895.
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.[5][6]
‘Salley’ is a dialect word for the willow from the old English ‘sallow’. In Irish it is ‘saileach’ and perhaps a borrowing from English.
The "Salley Gardens" were perhaps on the banks of the river at Ballysadare near Sligo where the willow was cultivated and pollarded to provide roof thatching materials.
The verse was set to music by Herbert Hughes to the traditional air "The Maids of Mourne Shore" in 1909. Here it is sung by John McCormack.
[media=https://youtu.be/ttEa2rNd7-k?is=f905HypADD7Tch3S]
He appears to be remembering a verse from “ The Rambling Boys of Pleasure".
Down by yon flowery garden my love and I we first did meet.
I took her in my arms and to her I gave kisses sweet
She bade me take life easy just as the leaves fall from the tree.
But I being young and foolish, with my darling did not agree.
The rest of the poem is different, but it was not unusual for poets to build on verses from old ballads. The poem first appeared under its present title when it was reprinted in Poems in 1895.
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.[5][6]
‘Salley’ is a dialect word for the willow from the old English ‘sallow’. In Irish it is ‘saileach’ and perhaps a borrowing from English.
The "Salley Gardens" were perhaps on the banks of the river at Ballysadare near Sligo where the willow was cultivated and pollarded to provide roof thatching materials.
The verse was set to music by Herbert Hughes to the traditional air "The Maids of Mourne Shore" in 1909. Here it is sung by John McCormack.
[media=https://youtu.be/ttEa2rNd7-k?is=f905HypADD7Tch3S]
