William Allingham was born March 19th 1824 in Ireland, his parents were of English descent. His mother died when he was only nine years old, a few years later his father sent him off to boarding school which made Allingham unhappy. He returned when his father became ill and worked at a bank where his father was already manager. He published his first book on poetry when in 1850, which was not successful. Throughout his life he published over 15 books that were successful. He worked as an editor from 1874-1879. He married Helen Paterson in 1974 who was 24 years younger than him. He died at the age of 64 on November 18th 1889. The opening lines from Allingham's poem The Fairies (Up the airy mountain/Down the rushy glen/We daren't go a-hunting/For fear of little men...) was quoted by the character of The Tinker near the beginning of the movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, as well as in Mike Mignola's comic book short story Hellboy: The Corpse, plus the 1973 horror film Don't Look in the Basement. Several lines of the poem are quoted by Henry Flyte, a character in issue #65 of the Supergirl comic book, August 2011. (Wikipedia) “The Fairies” was written in 1950 (answer.com)
The “Fairies” written by William Allingham is about wee little men army (4-6).They are little men who stole a little girl named Bridget and kept her for seven years(29-30.) They let her go but she goes back to find all her friends are gone so they take her back. (31-33). She was so devastated and dead with sadness, but the l-ittele men thought she was just sleeping, so they kept her deep in the lake (35-38). They are also very protective of their belongings. They will make you sleep with the thorns from their thorn trees, if you dare to dig them up (43-48). “The Fairies” is a poem about evil little fairies. The title makes you think that the poem is going to be about cute little fairies that sprinkle magical pixie dust on things. In Irish folklore Fairies were happy and painted the colors on the flowers and they worked along the side of Mother Nature (Mary). It seems Allingham took the original fairies folklore and gave it a twist. He makes you fear the little men “Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, we daren’t go a-hunting For fear of little men” (1-4). He uses dark colors when describing where they live “Of the black mountain lake” (14). He gives the feel of cold and darkness.
"The Fairies" is about little men who take a little girl for their own and who are very protective of where they live and their stuff. The poem itself is already vivid enough that it is almost self-explanatory. Allingham described the Fairies so well and he made you simply made you feel from the start of the poem that these little men were not good little men. The poem is very dark and Allingham was very good in describing it, using words like “black”(14), “gray”(19), “cold starry nights”(26) “dead with sorrow”(36) He got straight to the point and let you know this poem was going to have twist from the Irish folklore that he probably grew up with. The fairies seem more evil when they take little Bridget and keep her for seven years (29-30). They thought she was sleeping but she was actually dead with sorrow (35-36) Because she tried to return home but because so many years had passed no one was there, almost as if everyone had forgotten her. When they took her back she was so distraught from losing everything that she was lifeless. They kept her deep within the lake, on a bed of flag-leaves, watching til she wakes (37-40). You can also tell the Fairies are evil by what they will do to anyone who digs up their thorn-trees. “They have planted thorn-trees For pleasure here and there. If any man so daring As dig them up in spite, He shall find their sharpest thorns In his bed at night”(43-47). The Fairies would seriously hurt anyone who dares to mess with them. They want to hurt you enough that you don’t do it again but also keep you alive so you can warn people of them.
Lastly, “The Fairies” is a very dark and scary poem to imagine. Allingham paints vivid pictures with his words. He makes you feel empathy for Bridget when she is taken and makes you fear taking down their Thorn-trees because they might come after you. “Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, We daren’t go a-hunting For fear of little men” (1-4)
Those first four lines say it all.
P the airy mountain,
