The Wild Things Lyrics as the Heathen in Book, The Kith of the Elf Folk by Edward Plunkett
"Then something akin to discontent troubled the Wild Thing for the first time since the making of the marshes; and the soft grey ooze and the chill of the deep water seemed to be not enough, nor the first arrival from northwards of the tumultuous geese, nor the wild rejoicing of the wings of the wildfowl when every feather sings, nor...and the little Wild Thing longed to have a soul, and to go and worship God."
"Then, as she stood outside the factory gates, the soul irresistibly compelled her to sing, and a wild song came from her lips, hymning the marshlands. And into her song came crying her yearning for home and for the sound of the shout of the North Wind, masterful and proud, with his lovely lady the Snow; and she sang of tales that the rushes murmured to one another, tales that the teal knew and the watchful heron."
As discussed in class, Lord Dunsany uses a great amount of parataxis as can be seen in the first chapter and his repetition of "nor" or in the second passage with the repetition of "and". This helps to emphasize the lists of actions that Lord Dunsany presents. Another technique that shows Lord Dunsany's style is his use of alliteration. "...his lovely lady...", "...wings of the wildfowl when...", and "making of the marshes" are all examples that make the text more lyrical and also sound olden.
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An interesting thing I noticed in the story is that the Wild Thing is female. I believe Lord Dunsany chooses the sex to be female because in his old style of writing, women are the fickle sex. Thus, her decisions to become a human and later to go back would be seen as more realistic.
The two passages go well together because they are contradictory. Every beautiful thing that she longs for as a human, she tires of as a Wild Thing earlier in her life: she tires of the wind that bears the "tumultuous geese" but then longs "for the sound of the shout of the North Wind". Again, we see that this woman is changes her mind. This could be due to that fact that she was not exposed to nature in her human life in the city, but I believe it is more that she is not used to the way humans take advantage of nature.
What I found curious is that the Wild Thing could feel something like discontent even without a soul, though that would mean she had feelings when she should not have. These feelings that derived from the soul are what separated the humans from the Wild Things. Perhaps Lord Dunsany was trying to make a point that two completely different worlds could in fact have more in common than originally thought. This can be seen in the parallel of the Wild Thing longing to be a human and the human longing to be a Wild Thing again. This would also set up a message that we are never content with what we have.
The choice of calling this being a Wild Thing seems to have a religious undertone. These things are wild because they do not worship God, even though they can see the angels traveling to and from the church. The almost ritualistic dance that the Wild Things perform can be seen as a kind of worship of nature. Thus, the Wild Things are technically heathens to all those that worship God, with their "Wild" behaviors. Another take on their name could be that they are wild in the sense that the Wild Things do not adhere to the order of the world; they do not die and cannot be normally seen. The paradox of her "hymning the marshlands" seems to denote a change in her character. We transition from the Godless Wild Thing to the human worshiping God to the human worshipping the marshlands of her home.
There is a distinct change in the description of the wind from early in the story to the end of the story. Near the first passage, the wind is described as a bully and makes the rushes bend low in submission. After seeing the mechanical society that she becomes a part of, she longs for the marshlands and their "masterful and proud" North Wind. This longing to worship God could not change the fact that the humans looked down on her free spirit, going so far as to call her a gypsy. Lord Dunsany, in his writing of the reactions of the people.
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