"The Stolen Child" Review

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9hnUYV06t4

Anya Yalin’s reading of “The Stolen Child” by W.B. Yeats - with video by Virtual World of Second Life - is a chilling presentation of Yeats’ poem. The poem addresses the legend that children who do not behave will get swept away by little faery creatures - never to see their parents again. Anya Yalin’s voice is hauntingly creepy as she softly murmurs the words of the poem. Her voice matches the haunting nature of the poem - echoing a young child’s biggest worry at bedtime. The video is also a fitting accompaniment to the poem, with its sullen images and unsettling musical clips and sound effects. The child’s laughter in the background is especially effective. A sound that is usually happy and carefree sounds harsh and foreboding alongside the mystical undertones of the video. The video is eerily serene, which conveys the calm before the storm as a child peacefully tries to fall asleep but risks losing his or her life to this dismal faery land. Yalin’s voice has a definite faery-like quality to it in its softness. It quietly entreats a child to join her in the “Sleuth Wood in the lake.” She sounds disturbingly calm as she lures a young boy away from his innocent childhood. Overall, Yalin’s reading of Yeats’ poem is effective in portraying the haunting subject matter of the poem. Alongside the visual accompaniment, she paints an appropriately chilling picture of Yeats’ already somber poem.

Ashley Sawatzky

(Information about the legend found at http://www.reconnections.net/stolenchild.htm)