Aedh Wishes for the Clothes of Heaven?

Question

What does this Yeats poem mean? I don't get it at all! Why would someone spread their dreams under your feet, then beg you not to trample on them? I know that's only human, but it's also, sadly, asking for trouble.

Aedh Wishes for the Clothes of Heaven
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Answer 1

This is a rather sweet poem with two or three different things to say. It is most of all a poem about love, with the central theme of these supposed 'clothes of heaven'.

If you look closely, you'll see that Yeats is not referring to white robes worn by angels in a Heaven with a capital H. Instead, he is talking about the heavens up above us - the dark starry quilt of night and the blue serenity of day. And this is an important distinction.

By admiring the beauty that is in nature all around us, Yeats touches a chord that we can all experience. Three lines of this eight line poem talk only about the glory of nature. It is a vastness that we can also grasp and appreciate. This also harmonizes with a later point. Later.

The discussion of nature is framed in the premise of the poem. IF I had these wonderful supposed clothes, THEN I would lay them on your feet to walk on. Clearly, because the speaker of the poem finds all this wonder of nature that he's just waxed on about to be far less than that of his love. To him, all the world is nothing compared to her.

At the end, however, Yeats puts in a sonnet-like twist. He says, "I, being poor, have only my dreams". Which is an interesting thing to say. For no amount of money can purchase nature itself, much less craft it into garments that could be worn or tread upon. So we are talking about a different kind of poverty here. A poverty of spirit, perhaps? We'll never know for sure. Just that he has only dreams instead of realities.

Allow me to diverge a second and point out another wrinkle in this poem. Aedh is the Celtic god of death. So the title might be re-written, 'Death wishes for the clothes of heaven'. Which again puts a similar angle to the 'poverty' here... Death is the end. The point of decision and loss. An ultimate poverty and sometimes an ultimate wishing.

And all this is another turn of the screw. The speaker has only dreams, and so has given them all to his love to do with as she wishes. He knows he is vulnerable in doing so, but he does so anyway. Should she be harsh his dreams will be lost, and since the world has already paled in significance compared to her, there would be presumably pretty much nothing left.

A sweet poem. It brings a tear to my eye. Thank you for bringing it up.

Answer 2

Won't we have free will in heaven still? We should be allowed to chose to wear clothes or not wear clothes when we get there. I for one, er if I go to heaven, as soon as I get there am striping naked and running across the clouds! Free as a bird!!! Hmm... Wait, will there be laws in heaven? I'd hate to get arrested as soon as I get there! And all the lawyers will be in hell! I'll have no one to defend me!!! Ah, you know I'm actually an atheist so I don't believe there really is a god or an afterlife. But this question gave me a good laugh, thinking about everyone up in heaven completely naked!

Answer 3

I believe he is asking for a kindness... It's not so much that he is begging, as it is that he is just pointing out that these are his dreams... Also, the act of "laying" something down at someone's feet is symbolic of giving that thing up... Perhaps Yeats is saying to someone that he is giving up his dreams for them, but to be kind because they are or were his dreams. OR he is saying that this woman wanted more than he could give, so he gave what he had... all he had were his dreams. (Hardly a substitute for the Clothes of Heaven) But it was what he had.. and he was asking if his dreams would be enough for her.