The Irish people like no one else are familiar with and proud of the creative work and achievements of their renowned countryman William Butler Yeats, the holder of the Nobel Prize in Literature. His poetry is not only beautiful lyrically but also presents a great basis for music art.
Thus, Yeats’ poem titled “Down by the Sally Gardens” set to music has turned into an amazing Celtic tune. Perhaps the text fit so nicely into the melody because of the origins of the poem itself. It is believed that William wrote it in an attempt to recover and restyle an old folk ballad “The Rambling Boys of Pleasure” that he heard from an old woman in the County Sligo. The first verse sounds just like the old song:
"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."
(old ballad)
compare:
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.
(Yeats’ poem)
The Salley Gardens (or ‘Sally’) is a real location where that peasant woman lived, near a village in Sligo. Salley here may have referred to the tree ‘sallow’, which is, in fact, a willow.
The poem has a number of music settings and each of them is special in its own way. Among composers who presented their vision were Herbert Hughes, Rebecca Clarke, John Ireland, Ivor Gurney, Benjamin Britten, John Corigliano. The folk piece has been arranged for various instrumental combinations but I think it works best on anything strings-related. A string quartet arrangement of the Salley might be the perfect set to express the poem’s haunting beauty. Or, a true Celtic violin could make it sound even more authentic:
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| a willow tree |
"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."
(old ballad)
compare:
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.
(Yeats’ poem)
The Salley Gardens (or ‘Sally’) is a real location where that peasant woman lived, near a village in Sligo. Salley here may have referred to the tree ‘sallow’, which is, in fact, a willow.
The poem has a number of music settings and each of them is special in its own way. Among composers who presented their vision were Herbert Hughes, Rebecca Clarke, John Ireland, Ivor Gurney, Benjamin Britten, John Corigliano. The folk piece has been arranged for various instrumental combinations but I think it works best on anything strings-related. A string quartet arrangement of the Salley might be the perfect set to express the poem’s haunting beauty. Or, a true Celtic violin could make it sound even more authentic:
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