The wild swans at coole analysis. The Wild Swans at Coole “The Wild Swans at Coole” Summary and Analysis 2022-11-16
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"The Wild Swans at Coole" is a poem written by Irish poet W.B. Yeats in 1917. The poem reflects on the passage of time and the fleeting nature of youth and beauty.
The poem begins with a description of the wild swans at Coole, a lake in Ireland where Yeats often spent time. These swans are a symbol of youth and beauty, and their presence at Coole is a constant reminder of the passing of time. The poem describes how the swans stay at Coole every year, but the people and the world around them change.
The speaker in the poem observes that the swans are unchanged, but the world around them is not. This contrast between the eternal beauty of the swans and the fleeting nature of human life is a central theme of the poem. The speaker reflects on how the world has changed since he was young, and how he has grown older and wiser. He feels a sense of loss for the youth and innocence he once had, and wonders if he will ever be able to reclaim it.
The poem also touches on the theme of political change and upheaval. The speaker notes that the world has become "turbulent" and "unrestful," possibly alluding to the turmoil of World War I and the Irish War of Independence. Despite the chaos of the world around them, the swans remain unchanged and unaffected, a symbol of peace and stability.
In the final stanza, the speaker reflects on his own mortality and the fact that he will eventually grow old and die. He wonders if the swans will still be at Coole when he is gone, a symbol of the eternal and unchanging nature of beauty.
Overall, "The Wild Swans at Coole" is a poignant meditation on the passage of time and the fleeting nature of youth and beauty. Through the symbol of the wild swans at Coole, Yeats explores the contrast between the eternal and the ephemeral, and reflects on the cyclical nature of life and the inevitability of death.
The Wild Swans at Coole
The poem presents us with an image of personal dejection that uses the permanent glory of the swans to stress the transience of human beings. It talks about a perfect world, one that has grown and flourished, but it starts to rain. This setting informs the poem's nostalgic, reflective mood that expresses the fact that the speaker feels himself to be at a transitional period, no longer young but not quite at the very end of his life, though he can sense the end coming. In The Wild Swans at Coole Yeats uses a memory of his youth, caused by his viewing of the swans before him, to contemplate how his relationship with Maud Gonne has changed over time, as well as how he himself has changed. Nature " Even though the speaker and the human world he knows have changed during the nineteen years since he started visiting the lake, he observes that the swans and the lake remained unchanged. As if there will never be a more special moment than viewing the swans on the water.
In sharp contrast to the change which has come over me the poet says their hearts have not grown old and wherever they wander according to their own sweet will, passion and conquest still attend upon them. It represents something missing in Yeast's life. Some things last forever. It could be argued that this proverbial swan is Yeats himself, who was turned down by Maud and is now desolate. They both share similarities and differences to one another, and they have a lot of different meanings. Though the speaker admires the swans, the entire poem is tinged with melancholy and regret, with the speaker projecting attributes onto the swans that he believes he now lacks. Being in a city, you are surrounded by people and Yeats wished to be alone in nature in Innisfree.
Like the swans, this poem itself has long outlived Yeats, retaining its beauty to this day. They are still unwearied. The poem implies that he has grown weary, and his heart has grown cold. His confusion only grows stronger when he realizes that the bird has only one reply for, Nevermore that he keeps on repeating. William Butler Yeats was born in 1865 in the Capital of Ireland. They remain together, going where they wish.
The tone in poetry sets the mood. In terms of style, The Wild Swans at Coole is almost classical in its smoothness and lucidity. The poem begins by signalling that the speaker feels himself to be in the autumn of his life. Finally, in the fifth stanza, he indicates that wherever these swans choose to fly, they will please any eyes that watch them. Autumn and twilight are both transitional periods, occupying liminal, transitional spaces in between extremes—autumn hangs between summer and winter, and twilight is between day and night. I am now sore and feel sad for the loss which I have suffered since then. The poem itself subtly alludes to lost love, and many critics also point to the timing of the poem's composition—shortly before the end of World War I, during the Irish struggle for independence from the British—as being highly significant.
While reaching the shore of the lake, the speaker sees fifty-nine swans swimming peacefully upon the reflective water. He observes that the swans do not seem tired or world-weary. Not every poem can be easily understood, the thought processes of the reader must not be narrow. In the poem, the things that intimate eternity are the swans, which he observes continuing to live and love as they always have, unaware of the passage of time. The author creates feelings and emotions in their poem. The The woodland paths are dry, Under the Mirrors a still sky; Upon the brimming water among the stones Are nine-and-fifty swans.
Yeats’s Poetry “The Wild Swans at Coole” Summary & Analysis
This mimicry of the swans in an appeal to the speaker's variation in tone over the years and poem makes us wonder; are the swans a projection of the speaker as he deals with his forceful, negative feelings of old age? So, very few things in the transient world are eternal. The real message in this poem is the words "nine and fifty. Still unmarried and childless at age fifty-one, he felt that life was passing him by. He remembers a time when, nineteen years ago, he came to this very lake and was watching the swans when suddenly they all flew away into the sky and scattered. In another sense the swans stand for the union of time and the timeless. In 1917, Yeats married Georgie Hyde-Lee and that is when Yeats began a new creative period doing automatic writing where Yeats came up with theories of history and human nature.
The Wild Swans at Coole “The Wild Swans at Coole” Summary and Analysis
Yeats not only wrote poetry but he wrote plays a well. Yeats admired the swans because of their beauty, happiness, and freedom but also envied their ability to live such a perfect life. A very calming experience at the least. The rhyme scheme of ABCBDD means that, in a similar way, neither the first nor the third line have a correspondent, and thus they contrast with the rhyming couplet that stands as the perfect example of a harmonious pair. She knew she could be of more use to him as a muse than as a wife or lover. Here, he views a large group of swans, comparing the present moment to his first visit to the park 19 years ago.
Comparative Analysis Of William Butler Yeats’ Poems: Free Essay Example, 1412 words
And yet, at the same time, there is a directness to his work which makes readers feel personally addressed, and situates his work always at one remove from more famous modernist poets such as T. They cause him to reflect on the years that have passed and the changes in himself since he first saw these swans, seemingly the same ones, nineteen years before. In his art, and in his reverent appreciation of the swans, Yeats was able to access a form of immortality that transcended his own mortal self and that lives on in each reader of this poem. They have not grown old like the poet: Passion or conquest, wander where they will Attend upon them still. In the fourth stanza, the speaker thinks more deeply about the swans and what they mean to him.