“Stolen Child” is a short story written by Colum McCann. It is part of “Fishing in the sloe-black river”, a collection of short stories by the same author and was first published in 1994. As Yeats is a famous Irish Poet and Colum McCann is an Irish writer, there is a high chance that he knew the poem and weaved in some of its topics on purpose.
The most remarkable indication is the story’s title, which goes like the title of Yeats’s poem: "Stolen child", but other themes such as that of the Irish goddess Dana or the topic of fairies seem to fit both works.
I hereby pose the thesis that Irish mythology and Yeats’ poem influenced the short story written by Colum McCann. In first step, I will pick out important aspects from the two texts and give detail on topics such as fairies and Irish mythology as far as concerning either the poem or the short story. This allows me, in a second step, to connect the knowledge about the aspects shared by both works and give interpretations in a stringent manner, with all necessary background knowledge already given.
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Identifying the topics
2.1. W.B. Yeats: The Stolen Child
2.1.1. Fairies
2.1.2. Different world
2.1.3. Child abduction
2.2. Colum McCann: Stolen Child
2.2.1. Irish past
2.2.2. Society outcasts
2.2.3. Father daughter relationship
3. Comparison and interpretation
3.1. Escaping into a better world
3.2. Dana: Irish goddess; Irish mythology and stereotypical Irish places
3.3. Fairies in “Stolen Child”
3.3.1. Dana:
3.3.2. All children
3.3.3. Will and the other veterans
4. Conclusion
5. Works Cited
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