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"Down by the Salley Gardens"

Performed by Celtic Aire of the United States Air Force Band

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"Down by the Salley Gardens" (Irish: Gort na Saileán) is a poem by William Butler Yeats published in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems in 1889.^[1]

History

Yeats indicated in a note that it 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."^[2] The "old song" may have been the ballad "The Rambling Boys of Pleasure"^[3] which contains the following verse:

"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 similarity to the first verse of the Yeats version is unmistakable and would suggest that this was indeed the song Yeats remembered the old woman singing. The rest of the song, however, is quite different.

Yeats's original title, "An Old Song Re-Sung", reflected his debt to "The Rambling Boys of Pleasure". The poem first appeared under its present title when it was reprinted in Poems in 1895.^[4]

Poem

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]

Location

It has been suggested that the location of the "Salley Gardens" was on the banks of the river at Ballysadare near Sligo where the residents cultivated trees to provide roof thatching materials.^[7]^[8] "Salley" or "sally" is a form of the Standard English word "sallow", i.e., a willow tree of the genus Salix. It is close in sound to the Irish word saileach, which also means willow.

Musical settings

The verse was set to music by Herbert Hughes to the traditional air "The Maids of Mourne Shore" in 1909.^[1] In the 1920s composer Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979) set the text to her own music.^[9] The composer John Ireland (1879–1962) set the words to an original melody in his song cycle Songs Sacred and Profane, written in 1929–31.^[10]^[11] There is also a vocal setting by the poet and composer Ivor Gurney, which was published in 1938.^[12] Benjamin Britten published a setting of the poem in 1943, using the tune Hughes collected.^[13] In 1988, the American composer John Corigliano wrote and published his setting.^[14]

Hughes' setting is recorded by individuals and groups including:

John McCormack (1941)
Peter Pears, with piano accompaniment by Britten (1944)
Kathleen Ferrier (1949)
Alfred Deller (1958)
Kenneth McKellar (1960)
Marianne Faithfull (on Come My Way, 1965)
Clannad on multiple albums including Clannad in Concert (1979)
Courage of Lassie on Sing or Die (1990)
Maura O'Connell and Karen Matheson for Transatlantic Sessions 2 (1998)
The Rankin Family on Collection (1996)
Órla Fallon on The Water is Wide (2000)
Andreas Scholl on Wayfaring Stranger (2001)
Redbird on Redbird (2003)
Méav Ní Mhaolchatha on A Celtic Journey (2006)
Sissel Kyrkjebø on Into Paradise (2006)
The Waterboys on Room to Roam – Collectors Edition (2008)
Loreena McKennitt on The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2010)
Laura Wright on The Last Rose (2011)
Alexander Armstrong on A Year of Songs (2015)

Additionally, the same setting is sang in the films Dancing at Lughnasa (1998) and The Children Act (2017), as well as in the anime series Fractale (2011) as the ending theme.

Notes

^ ^a ^b "Down by the Salley Gardens – tale of unrequited love". Irish Music Daily. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
^ Quoted in M. H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt eds., The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005. p. 2024.
^ Jeffares, A. Norman (1968). A Commentary on the Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats (Stanford University Press). ISBN 0333352149.
^ Ford, Robert (1997). W. B. Yeats: A Life. Vol 1. The Apprentice Mage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 69.
^ Yeats, W. B. (2021) [1996]. Finnegan, Richard J. (ed.). The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats. London, UK: Wordsworth Editions. p. 16. ASIN B09D56NX52. ISBN 0684807319.
^ "William Butler Yeats (1865–1939). Down by the Salley Gardens. Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. 1922. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse". www.bartleby.com. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
^ McGarry, James P (1976). Place Names in the Writings of William Butler Yeats. London, UK: Macmillan. p. 79.
^ Jeffares, A. Norman (1984). A New Commentary on the Poems of W. B. Yeats. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. p. 14. ISBN 0333352149.
^ Jezic, Diane P. (1988). Women Composers: The Lost Tradition Found (2nd ed.). New York, NY: The Feminist Press. pp. 157–162. ISBN 0935312943.
^ "Songs Sacred and Profane, Song Cycle by John (Nicholson) Ireland". The LiederNet Archive. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
^ Craggs, Stewart R. (2013) [2007]. John Ireland: A Catalogue, Discography and Bibliography: A Source Book (2nd ed.). Ashgate Publishing, Ltd./Routledge. pp. 92–93. ASIN B00AW99HNA. ISBN 0859679411.
^ "A First Volume of Ten Songs, Collection by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937)". The LiederNet Archive. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
^ "Down by the Salley Gardens". The LiederNet Archive. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
^ Corigliano, John. "Three Irish Folksong Settings (1988)". johncorigliano.com. Retrieved 17 March 2016.

External links

Salley gardens

Performed by Dancing Willow

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[Irish-1] "Down by the Salley Gardens – tale of unrequited love". Irish Music Daily. Retrieved 12 October 2021.

[2] Quoted in M. H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt eds., The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005. p. 2024.

[3] Jeffares, A. Norman (1968). A Commentary on the Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats (Stanford University Press). ISBN 0333352149.

[4] Ford, Robert (1997). W. B. Yeats: A Life. Vol 1. The Apprentice Mage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 69.

[5] Yeats, W. B. (2021) [1996]. Finnegan, Richard J. (ed.). The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats. London, UK: Wordsworth Editions. p. 16. ASIN B09D56NX52. ISBN 0684807319.

[6] "William Butler Yeats (1865–1939). Down by the Salley Gardens. Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. 1922. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse". www.bartleby.com. Retrieved 12 October 2021.

[7] McGarry, James P (1976). Place Names in the Writings of William Butler Yeats. London, UK: Macmillan. p. 79.

[8] Jeffares, A. Norman (1984). A New Commentary on the Poems of W. B. Yeats. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. p. 14. ISBN 0333352149.

[9] Jezic, Diane P. (1988). Women Composers: The Lost Tradition Found (2nd ed.). New York, NY: The Feminist Press. pp. 157–162. ISBN 0935312943.

[10] "Songs Sacred and Profane, Song Cycle by John (Nicholson) Ireland". The LiederNet Archive. Retrieved 12 October 2021.

[11] Craggs, Stewart R. (2013) [2007]. John Ireland: A Catalogue, Discography and Bibliography: A Source Book (2nd ed.). Ashgate Publishing, Ltd./Routledge. pp. 92–93. ASIN B00AW99HNA. ISBN 0859679411.

[12] "A First Volume of Ten Songs, Collection by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937)". The LiederNet Archive. Retrieved 12 October 2021.

[13] "Down by the Salley Gardens". The LiederNet Archive. Retrieved 12 October 2021.

[14] Corigliano, John. "Three Irish Folksong Settings (1988)". johncorigliano.com. Retrieved 17 March 2016.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Poem by William Butler Yeats}}
-{{refimprove|date=May 2008}}
+{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
-'''''Down By The Salley Gardens''''' (''[[Irish language|Irish]]: Gort na Saileán'') is a well-known poem by [[William Butler Yeats]] included in his book, [[The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems]], published in [[1889]].  Yeats indicated in a note that it was "an attempt to reconstruct an old song from three lines imperfectly remembered by an old peasant woman in the village of Ballysodare, [[County Sligo| Sligo]], who often sings them to herself."<ref>Quoted in M.H Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt eds., ''The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2''. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. p. 2024.</ref> Yeats's original title, "An Old Song Re-Sung", reflected this; it first appeared under its present title when it was reprinted in ''Poems'' (London: T. Fisher Unwin) in [[1895]].<ref>Ford, Robert, ''W.B.Yeats: A Life'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 69</ref> The verse was subsequently set to music by [[Herbert Hughes (musicologist)|Herbert Hughes]] to the [[air (music)|air]] ''The Maids of the Mourne Shore'' in 1909.  In the 1920s composer [[Rebecca Clarke]] set the text to music.<ref>Jezic, D. P. (1988). Women composers: The lost tradition found (2nd ed., pp. 157-162). New York: The Feminist Press. </ref> There is also a vocal setting by the poet and composer [[Ivor Gurney]], which was published in 1938.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Helferich_Clarke
+{{Listen|filename=Down by the Salley Gardens - Celtic Aire - United States Air Force Band.mp3|title="Down by the Salley Gardens"|description=Performed by Celtic Aire of the [[United States Air Force Band]]}}
+"'''Down by the Salley Gardens'''" (''[[Irish language|Irish]]: Gort na Saileán'') is a [[poem]] by [[William Butler Yeats]] published in ''[[The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems]]'' in 1889.<ref name =Irish>{{cite web|url=https://www.irishmusicdaily.com/down-by-the-salley-gardens|title=Down by the Salley Gardens – tale of unrequited love|access-date=12 October 2021|work=Irish Music Daily}}</ref>
-"Salley" is an anglicisation of the Irish ''saileach'', meaning ''[[willow]]'', i.e., a tree of the genus ''Salix''.  Willows are known as "salleys", "sallies" or "salley trees" in parts of Ireland.[http://www.hiberno-english.com/body.php?id=1484]
+==History==
+Yeats indicated in a note that it 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."<ref>Quoted in M. H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt eds., ''The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2''. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005. p. 2024.</ref> The "old song" may have been the ballad "The Rambling Boys of Pleasure"<ref>{{cite book |last=Jeffares |first=A. Norman |author-link=A. Norman Jeffares |url=https://archive.org/details/commentaryoncoll00jeff |title=A Commentary on the Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats (Stanford University Press) |year=1968 |isbn=0333352149 |url-access=registration}}</ref> which contains the following verse:
+:"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 similarity to the first verse of the Yeats version is unmistakable and would suggest that this was indeed the song Yeats remembered the old woman singing. The rest of the song, however, is quite different.
+Yeats's original title, "An Old Song Re-Sung", reflected his debt to "The Rambling Boys of Pleasure". The poem first appeared under its present title when it was reprinted in ''Poems'' in 1895.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ford|first=Robert|title=W. B. Yeats: A Life. Vol 1. The Apprentice Mage|location=Oxford|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1997|page=69}}</ref>
 ==Poem==
+: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.
-Down by the sally gardens my love and I did meet; <br>
+:In a field by the river my love and I did stand,
-She passed the sally gardens with little snow-white feet.<br>
+:And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.
-She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;<br>
+:She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the [[weir]]s;
+:But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.<ref>{{cite book|last=Yeats|first=W. B.|authorlink=W. B. Yeats|editor-last=Finnegan|editor-first=Richard J.|editor-link=Richard J. Finnegan|title=The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats|location=London, UK|publisher=Wordsworth Editions|orig-year=1996|year=2021|page=16|asin=B09D56NX52|isbn=0684807319}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=William Butler Yeats (1865–1939). Down by the Salley Gardens. Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. 1922. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse|url=https://www.bartleby.com/336/669.html|website=www.bartleby.com|access-date=12 October 2021}}</ref>
-But I being young and foolish with her did not agree.<br><br>
-In a field by the river my love and I did stand,<br>
-And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand. <br>
-She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;<br>
-But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.
-==Recordings==
+==Location==
+It has been suggested that the location of the "Salley Gardens" was on the banks of the river at Ballysadare near [[Sligo]] where the residents cultivated trees to provide roof [[thatching]] materials.<ref>{{cite book|last=McGarry|first=James P|title=Place Names in the Writings of William Butler Yeats|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]|year=1976|location=London, UK|page=79|url=https://archive.org/details/placenamesinwrit0000mcga|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Jeffares|first=A. Norman|title=A New Commentary on the Poems of W. B. Yeats|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|year=1984|location=Stanford, CA|page=14|isbn=0333352149}}</ref> "Salley" or "sally" is a form of the Standard English word "sallow", i.e., a ''[[willow]]'' tree of the genus ''[[Salix]]''. It is close in sound to the Irish word ''saileach'', which also means ''[[willow]]''.
-The song has been part of the repertoire of many singers and groups. Notable recordings include:
-*[[Alfred Deller]] included the song on his album ''Western Wind'' (1958).
-*[[Marianne Faithfull]] recorded the song on her joint-debut album of folk songs titled [[Come My Way]] (1965)
-*[[The Rankin Family]] covered this song on their greatest hits album [[Collection]]
-*[[Clannad]] included the song (sung in English) on their first live album [[Clannad in Concert]] (1979), Celtic Myst (1997), and on the live album [[Clannad Live in Concert]] (2005).
-*[[Now And In A Time To Be]], a collection of Yeats poems set to music. The version included on that album was sung in Irish by [[Tamalin]].
-*Male soprano [[Aris Christofellis]] accompanied by Theodore Kotepanos on piano recorded an arrangement of the song by [[Benjamin Britten]] on his album ''Recital''.
-*Órla Fallon of [[Celtic Woman]] on her solo CD The Water Is Wide
-*Meav, also from Celtic Woman, sung it on her solo cd Celtic Journey.
-*Recorded as flute instrumental by flutist [[James Galway]]
-*Lim Hyung Joo recorded the song (sung in English) and conditionally titled his album "The Sally Gardens".
-*The [[Whiffenpoofs]] of Yale have released a number of recordings (in English) with additional verses of a John Kelley arrangement of the Hughes melody.
-*[[Joseph McManners]] sang the song, too.
-*[[Angelo Branduardi]] made an italian version with the same Yeats' lyrics and a music of theirs in the album [[Branduardi canta Yeats]]
-*Redbird [http://www.myspace.com/redbirdcollective] (Kris Delmhorst,[http://www.krisdelmhorst.com/] Jeffrey Foucault,[http://andywhitman.blogspot.com/2006/04/jeffrey-foucault.html] [http://www.jeffreyfoucault.com/news.html] Peter Mulvey [http://www.petermulvey.com/]) recorded Sally Gardens as track 14 on their self-titled 2004 album [http://cdbaby.com/cd/redbird].
-*Irish-American singer [[Maura O'Connell]] recorded the song on her album ''Wandering Home''.
-*[[Black 47]] treatment in 40 Shades of Blue [http://www.thereelbook.com/groups/Black47/Black47Charts.aspx]
-*[[Tomás Mac Eoin]] sang it with instrumental accompaniment by [[The Waterboys]] in a 1989 recording. It was issued as a single by Tomás Mac Eoin in 1989 and is included on the 2008 Collectors Edition of the Waterboys album [[Room To Roam]].
-*[[Cambridge Singers]] in an arrangement by [[John Rutter]]
-  Kathleen Ferrier also recorded this
+==Musical settings==
-==Notes==
+The verse was set to music by [[Herbert Hughes (composer)|Herbert Hughes]] to the traditional [[Air (music)|air]] "The Maids of Mourne Shore" in 1909.<ref name=Irish/> In the 1920s composer [[Rebecca Clarke (composer)|Rebecca Clarke]] (1886–1979) set the text to her own music.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jezic|first=Diane P.|year=1988|title=Women Composers: The Lost Tradition Found|edition=2nd|pages=157–162|location=New York, NY|publisher=The Feminist Press|url=https://archive.org/details/womencomposerslo00jezi_0|url-access=registration|isbn=0935312943}}</ref> The composer [[John Ireland (composer)|John Ireland]] (1879{{ndash}}1962) set the words to an original melody in his [[song cycle]] ''[[Songs Sacred and Profane]]'', written in 1929{{ndash}}31.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lieder.net/lieder/assemble_texts.html?SongCycleId=82|title=Songs Sacred and Profane, Song Cycle by John (Nicholson) Ireland|website=The LiederNet Archive|access-date=12 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Craggs|first=Stewart R.|title=John Ireland: A Catalogue, Discography and Bibliography: A Source Book|pages=92{{ndash}}93|orig-year=2007|year=2013|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd./[[Routledge]]|edition=2nd|asin=B00AW99HNA|isbn=0859679411}}</ref> There is also a vocal setting by the poet and composer [[Ivor Gurney]], which was published in 1938.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lieder.net/lieder/assemble_texts.html?SongCycleId=7084|title=A First Volume of Ten Songs, Collection by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937)|access-date=12 October 2021|website=The LiederNet Archive}}</ref> [[Benjamin Britten]] published a setting of the poem in 1943, using the tune Hughes collected.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=17581|title= Down by the Salley Gardens|access-date=12 October 2021|website=The LiederNet Archive}}</ref> In 1988, the American composer [[John Corigliano]] wrote and published his setting.<ref>{{cite web|title=Three Irish Folksong Settings (1988)|url=http://www.johncorigliano.com/index.php?p=item2&item=103|author=Corigliano, John|website=johncorigliano.com| access-date= 17 March 2016}}</ref>
-<references/>
+Hughes' setting is recorded by individuals and groups including:
-==Media==
+*[[John McCormack (tenor)|John McCormack]] (1941)
-{{listen|filename=Dancing Willow - Demo-CD 2007 04 - Sally gardens.ogg|title=Sally gardens|description=Performed by Dancing Willow|format=[[Ogg]]}}
+*[[Peter Pears]], with piano accompaniment by Britten (1944)
+*[[Kathleen Ferrier]] (1949)
+*[[Alfred Deller]] (1958)
+*[[Kenneth McKellar (singer)|Kenneth McKellar]] (1960)
+*[[Marianne Faithfull]] (on ''[[Come My Way]]'', 1965)
+*[[Clannad (musical group)|Clannad]] on multiple albums including ''[[Clannad in Concert]]'' (1979)
+*Courage of Lassie on ''Sing or Die'' (1990)
+*[[Maura O'Connell]] and [[Karen Matheson]] for [[Transatlantic Sessions#Transatlantic Sessions 2|Transatlantic Sessions 2]] (1998)
+*[[The Rankin Family]] on ''[[Collection (The Rankin Family album)|Collection]]'' (1996)
+*[[Órla Fallon]] on ''[[The Water is Wide (Órla Fallon album)|The Water is Wide]]'' (2000)
+*[[Andreas Scholl]] on ''[[Wayfaring Stranger (Andreas Scholl album)|Wayfaring Stranger]]'' (2001)
+*[[Redbird (band)|Redbird]] on ''[[Redbird (Redbird album)|Redbird]]'' (2003)
+*[[Méav Ní Mhaolchatha]] on [[A Celtic Journey|A ''Celtic Journey'']] (2006)
+*[[Sissel Kyrkjebø]] on ''[[Into Paradise (Sissel album)|Into Paradise]]'' (2006)
+*[[The Waterboys]] on ''[[Room to Roam|Room to Roam – Collectors Edition]]'' (2008)
+*[[Loreena McKennitt]] on ''[[The Wind That Shakes the Barley (album)|The Wind That Shakes the Barley]]'' (2010)
+*[[Laura Wright (singer)|Laura Wright]] on ''[[The Last Rose]]'' (2011)
+*[[Alexander Armstrong (comedian)|Alexander Armstrong]] on ''[[A Year of Songs]]'' (2015)
+Additionally, the same setting is sang in the films ''[[Dancing at Lughnasa (film)|Dancing at Lughnasa]]'' (1998) and [[The Children Act (film)|''The Children Act'']] (2017), as well as in the [[anime]] series ''[[Fractale]]'' (2011) as the ending theme.
+==See also==
+*[[1889 in poetry]]
+*[[List of works by William Butler Yeats]]
+*[[Down in the Willow Garden]], a traditional folk song with similar lyrics
+==Notes==
+{{Reflist}}
 ==External links==
+{{listen|filename=Dancing Willow - Demo-CD 2007 04 - Sally gardens.ogg|title=Salley gardens|description=Performed by Dancing Willow|format=[[Ogg]]}}
-*Free scores of [[choralwiki:Down by the salley gardens (Traditional)|this work]] in the [[Choral Public Domain Library|Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)]]
+*{{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/w-b-yeats/poetry|name=The collected public domain poetry of Yeats as an eBook|noitalics=true}}
-Image:Dancing Willow - Demo-CD 2007 04 - Sally gardens.ogg|Sally gardens (Ogg-Vorbis)
+* [http://www.ariella-music.co.uk Ariella Uliano: 'Salley Gardens' song from the album 'A.U. (almost) a Compilation', 2009.]
+{{W. B. Yeats}}
+{{Authority control}}
-[[Category:Works by William Butler Yeats]]
+[[Category:Poetry by W. B. Yeats]]
 [[Category:Irish songs]]
-[[ga:Gort na Saileán]]
-[[ja:ダウン・バイ・ザ・サリー・ガーデンズ‎]]