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The Stolen Child

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Eric Whitacre is a world renowned choral music composer known for his detailed and intricate compositions. In the world of choir music, composers take poetry and compose voice parts to complement and paint the imagery of the poem. This is a lot like writing where the consumer takes in details with one sense (hearing or reading) and uses their imagination to paint a picture in their head. It is the composer’s job to help the consumer paint this picture by providing precise details and imagery through sound or in a writer’s case, words. In “The Stolen Child” by Eric Whitacre, a young boy is being coerced by faeries to enter the wood, forget the sorrows of the world and stay youthful forever. “The Bacchae” by Euripides, depicts a young boy king …show more content…

The premise of eternal youth seems simple. Once submitted to it, the sorrows of life can be forgotten and one may live as a naive child for eternity. However, there is a sacrifice to gain this eternal youth. In Bacchae the main character Pentheus is slaughtered by his own mother in order for her to gain wisdom and become a follower of Dionysus. Pentheus is then granted eternal youth because he dies young for a greater cause. The child in “A Stolen Child” is told to, “Come away, oh human child” the faeries tell him that he can live in eternal happiness with them because the, “worlds more full of weeping than you can understand”. Dionysus tells the mortals that they can become followers of his if they suffer a sacrifice and submit to the madness that is created by that sacrifice. Once his followers know true madness they can be enlightened to his was a gain true felicity. This is the followers of Dionysus’ way of getting away from the world’s sorrows (the weeping). Alternatively, these children can also be viewed as eternal because they are immortalized in the text. Each time “The Stolen Child” is sung or Bacchae is read, the image of the children is brought to life once again. The symbol of a child is used in “The Stolen Child” and Bacchae to immortalize lifelong happiness and

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