mages to create a pattern of association. “The Hosting of the Sidhe” is a particularly good example of the female passion and beauty in Yeats’s poetry. This poem (and others from The Wind Among the Reeds) is significant because it uses fairies, and the movement of wind, hair and fire. Each of these characteristics and their relationship with the feminine in Yeats’s poetry will be further explored. The feminine and seductive presence of fairies and other mythical creatures in The Wind Among the Reeds alludes to women in a different form. Yeats used fictitious names in poems that were originally addressed to Maud Gonne and Mrs. Shakespear. Such poems as "The Hosting of the Sidhe" and "The Song of Wandering Aengus" cast faeries in the main role. In his notes, Yeats explains that the poor called the gods of ancient Ireland “the Sidhe, from Aes Sidhe or Sluagh Sidhe, the people of the Faery Hills” (Jeffares 59). “The world of the fairies, presided over by Niamh, is a feminine realm of beauty, sexuality and romance” (Howes, 28). Niamh is a warrior queen, and a type of temptress. She uses her sexuality to conquer because, according to Yeats’s notes, “If any one becomes too much interested in them, and sees them over much, he loses all interest in other things” (Jeffares 59).WIND In addition, the sound and action of wind is consistently associated with the drama of women figures in Yeats's poetry. The title of the section, The Wind Among the Reeds, directly refers to this natural imagery. It creates movement and symbolizes the flow of nature, the changing cycles, and the unpredictable action of women. The myth of fairies in Irish Mythology is associated with wind as well. Yeats stated in his notes that in Gaelic Sidhe means wind. “They journey in whirling winds…When the country people see the leaves whirling on the road they bless themselves, because ...
