Read the poem "The Wild Swans at Coole" by William Butler Yeats (405/346/426/420). How does Yeats use all the elements of poetry (diction, imagery, figurative language, sound, rhythm, tone) to embue his poem with a sense of the timelessness of nature in contrast to that of man.
30 comments:
I think this might be the rhyme scheme: ABCBDD
-Stanza 1-
beauty
dry
water
sky
stones
swans
-Stanza 2-
me
count
finished
mount
rings
wings
The poem is written in iambic meter with a few variations. The first and third lines are in tetrameter, the second, fourth, and sixth lines are in trimeter, and the fifth line is in pentameter.
Every line has a word that alludes to nature, autumn, or change. Autumn is definitely a season that represents change. (Leaves fall off the trees, animals migrate.) The speaker mentions how this is, "the nineteenth autumn...Since [he] first visited this lake and he feels "all's changed" over the decades. Observing the swans, he notices how they are "unwearied" and "Their hearts have not grown old." He comes back and feels he has changed, but the swans still look the same and are doing the same thing, even after 19 years.
The poem has more of a melancholy tone.. The speaker doesn't seem extremely cheerful or optimistic. It has a sense of loneliness and longing, but I can't tell what makes him feel dissatisfied. Does he envy the swans who never seem to change, or does he appreciate the fact that they still seem just as passionate, unwearied, mysterious and beautiful as they did years ago? And the swans flying away at the end, does that symbolize something or am I over thinking it?
It seems to me that this poem is about change. The speaker's life has changed for the worse with old age and lost lovers, while the swans seem unmoved, and the seasons cycle routinely. The tone of the poem is depressing, as the speaker's "heart is sore", and the setting is an "October twilight". The speaker is contemplating the contrast of his current self to his younger self, and of him to the swans. He seems to envy nature's consistency.
I definitely think Sharon summed up the rhyme scheme perfectly, the ABCBDD pattern that Yeats employs that is roughly in iambic meter, with the exceptions being the first and third lines in tetrameter (I think).
The speaker has been visiting the same spot for 19 years and suddenly realizes in his old age that "the nineteenth autumn has come upon me…. I saw, before I had well finished." He is nearing the end of his life and is trying to make some final conclusions about what he has accomplished in his life. Like so many years before, he stumbles upon the lake of swans in October and counts the swans as they graze over the lake.
I think Yeats uses the swans as some sort of metaphor to his own life. He admires how throughout all the years he has come and watched them they have seems to stand still in time. There aging is unnoticed and they seem to fly together faithfully. These two things, the act of aging and loss of a faithful companion have seems to have cause much pain in the speaker’s life.
Tone is another important aspect in this poem. The topic is philosophical and the speaker is quite depressed with his own mortality. The poem is very reflective but it is well-suited for the topic and event at hand.
Sharon you have this meter and rhythm thing down solid.
Diction: He uses interesting nouns in place of where you'd expect something basic. Like in line 3, instead of saying "under the October night ski", he says "under the October twilight". It makes it more descriptive because he uses carefully chosen words, not a whole bunch of semi-interesting words. Also his choice to say "the nineteenth autumn" instead of "I'm nineteen years old". It's so much more eloquent and reminds me of really old, fine table linen. Sorry that's kind of a weird comparison...
Imagery: I sensed a lot of Organic imagery because the speaker seems so sad (now my heart is sore). There's also a lot of kinetic imagery because the swans are paddling, "climbing the air" (more amazing diction!), drifting, and swimming away.
Figurative language: A possible conceit if the swans represent children in their youth, but I feel that's a stretch. I couldn't find much else. Help?
Sound: In lines 1-4, there seems to be a lot of t's and d's. Those are the only harsh consonants however. There're a lot of long musical vowels and the lines keep a pretty even tempo. Nothing feels hurried or rushed.
Tone: The slow pace of the lines gives this a melancholy feel. It's interesting that if the speaker is in Ireland, and it's in October, that the tone is so sad and the speed is slow. You'd figure the cold would spur him to write about something more brisk. I've actually never been to Ireland so it might be warm, I don't know. It's a guess.
ARRRGH. I'd just finished writing a long post and then my session timed out, and I had to re-write all of it. This isn't going to be so profound, I'm afraid. =(
First off, Thanks Sharon for describing the complete rhyme scheme, which is ABCBDD.
I found mostly visual and some auditory imagery. The description of the swans that fly away and "scatter wheeling" and the "bell-beat" of their "clamorous" wings makes the poem seem noisier than I would have thought (11,12,17). This auditory image makes the poem seem more realistic.
I thought stanzas 3 and 4 had really interesting diction that contributed to the tone and meaning of the poem. I think the tone of this poem is a mixture of reminiscence, remoteness, and as Sharon mentioned, melancholy. The first line of stanza 3 makes it seem as though the swans are another wonder of the world, instead of just part of nature because the speaker "looked upon [them]...brilliant creatures" as though in awe. This word choice helps the reader to understand that the speaker seems to be reminscing about the swans. Also, the word "trod" in the last line of stanza 3: "trod with a lighter tread" seems elderly, slow, and deliberate unlike the active swans of nature. He (assuming "he" for sake of argument) is remembering earlier times and now feels like he's aged, which saddens him. Also, the alliterative "t" in that line sounds harsher and more disruptive, unlike the peaceful consistency of the swans.
The comparison in stanzas 3 and 4 between his "sore" heart and the swans' hearts that "have not grown old" also show how he, as a human, has aged, but the swans, as part of nature, remain youthful and innocent. Calling the stream "cold" and also "companionable" make the swans swimming in it seem more invincible, unlike the speaker who feels like time is now slipping away from him.
I also felt a remoteness in his tone, as though he's never internalized the beauty of the swans. It just serves as a nasty reminder about his aging.
Sharon, I think he does envy the swans but not with hatred, just with sadness and remembrance. I think the very last line of the poem signifies that although the swans stay consistent, they still affect their surroundings and other humans (like the speaker). They are timeless and always moving on, unlike the speaker whose life doesn't stretch to everlasting...
Does that make any sense??
THE WILD SWANS AT COOLE is a very visual poem (“Mirrors a still sky” “autumn beauty” “brimming water” “clamorous wings”). Yeats is describing an autumn setting, which is a time of change (like Sharon said), amongst a cloudless sky and smooth pond which is filled with 59 white swans. The man later returns after nineteen long years to see that the swans have not grown old, nor have their timeless, “passionate” hearts.
I think the swans are symbols for all-encompassing beauty, perfection, elegance, and purity. And like others have said, I feel as if this poem conveys a sense of sadness and loss. The man returns, after many years, to see the ageless swans --the epitome of nature in all its perfection-- when he himself has been weathered by time. However, even though they appear ageless, it does not mean that they lead immortal lives (I don’t think these are magical swans). Eventually, they will experience death, just like all natural things -- life is an ongoing cycle, exactly like the seasons. And that’s the question the speaker asks in the end: what will there be to “Delight men’s eyes when I awake some day / To find [that] they have all flown away.” What then? This entire poem seems very reflective and pensive.
Lauren, I like what you said regarding the potential metaphor relating the speaker’s life to that of nature as depicted by the swans :o)
The long ‘o’ and ‘oo’ sounds Yeats uses heightens the sad tone of the poem. Words such as, “woodland, October, before, clamorous, sore, shore, cold, old, flown, and pool,” are used as phonetic intensives to express the overall feeling of mourning and grief. Also, there are some spots that create mild cacophony by way of “harder” sounds, especially in the first stanza with the repeated ‘t’ sounds.
I've noticed that Yeats used the word 'still' a lot in this poem.
"water/ Mirror's the still sky"
"unwearied still"
"attend upon them still"
"drift on the still water"
He uses the two meanings of still; continuing and also not moving. This adds to the sense that the his lake and all its inhabitants have no changed, but has kept "still" over time and that it "still" is the same.
Also, the fact that the "woodland paths are dry" creates an untainted image of the lake. If the place were wet, it would change everything about the lake scenery. It also gives the reader an image that would seem to fit on a postcard which makes me think of tourists who buy these postcards because they think they are pretty, but also that it will be a reminder of what they saw (and what they will see again when they come back).
Haha, I first I was thinking about the swans that swim around Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disney Land, ah, that was nifty.
http://www.matterhorn1959.com/blog1/1955v.jpg
Without the diction there would of been no imagery. Instead of saying "reflecting" Yeats went with "mirrors", which is lovely to think about. I has always believed that diction and imagery needed eachother to properly work and they get the job done in this poem. Combinded with the sound and rhythm I got the feeling of fantasy princess and her love being parted by time as she sleeps...a.k.a Slepping Beauty.
The rhythm (this ABCBDD I keep hearing about)makes the idea of passing time more realistic. This is also works with the tone of the poem that suggets love and having it lost at the hands of time.
Nature will always last, its built that way, like love. The swans are typically the love bird and they always remain for this man. But the day the swans are gone is the day his love is lost.
A fond memory!
~http://ilovethebeach.deviantart.com/art/A-Valediction-Forbidding-Mourn-113938008
The sounds I hear the most when I read this poem are 'w', the soft 'd', and 'i'. These sounds, along with the long 'oo' sound Nick mentioned, add a very calming tone to the overall poem. However there are a few places where Yeats uses harsher consonants, like the 'ck' and 't' sounds in "October twilight" (3).
I don't know if anyone else noticed, but in some of the stanzas, when I was reading it the variations in line lengths were definitely effective in the determining the flow of the poem. For example, the one place where I had to reread the stanza was the fourth stanza. "They paddle in the cold / Companionable streams or climb the air; / Their hearts have not grown old" (20-23). When I first read it, I paused after the first line, but I realized that the first two lines sort of run together. And the last line, after a pause, is like the "kicker." It is much more effective the way Yeats created a pause between the second and third lines because line 23 introduces the main theme of the poem. The speaker compares his life to the swans, and longs for "passion or conquest" that follows them around.
Innocence lost is the first concept that comes to my mind after reading this soft, contemplative poem. The most effective image was that of the never aging flock of swans flying away from the former boy who is now a man at age 19.
The abnormal, in my opinion, rhyme scheme gives the poem an aspect that flows like a swan's stroke-kick; the meter goes forward in a sort of glide, measured by the kick of the author's diction determining the length of each words syllables. I don't know what it is exactly but this poem feels so much more full and melancholy if read slowly.
"Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold,
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still."
You can feel the ebb and flow of a dozen swans gliding along the water. And the speaker's life feels to him as if it has flown off into the October skies of adult-hood too fast. He reminisces of the slow gliding swans but near the end of the poem sadly realizes that youth's innocent bliss has flown off never to be admired again.
I agree that this poem has a melancholy tone. It depicts the speaker's aging process. As he has aged watching the swans has always been a constant in his life. It appears now that as aspects of his life begin to fade away, that he is now questioning how much longer he will have the swans to watch. Many of those surrounding him have abandoned him, and he expects the swans to do the same. He feels ownership of "his" swans and is jealous of other people who might watch them as well. Overall this is a tragic story of one man fighting the aging process.
In Yeats' poem he uses interesting diction in small sections on the stanzas. In the first stanza, he says "under the October twilight the water Mirrors a still sky." By using "twilight" it helps create the scene and image, helping create a descriptive picture in the readers mind.
I sense kinetic imagery in this poem, "all suddenly mount," "looked upon those brilliant creatures," "paddle in the cold." All of these kinetic imagery help create a better sense of what is going on in the poem.
The tone of this poem seems slow and almost nostalgic of what it was like to see the swans "under the October twilight."
Yeats personifies the swans when he mentions that "their hearts have not grown old; / Passion or conquest... / Attend upon them still" (22-24). This is in sharp contrast to the only human, the speaker, whose "heart is sore" (14) after "all's changed" (15). The swans are a metonymy for nature and the man is metonymy for humanity. Through figurative language, Yeats establishes that mankind changes, but nature is forever. Through figurative language, Yeats establishes that mankind changes, but nature is forever.
Nick; I don't think the speaker is returning for the first time in many years. The fact the speaker mentions that it's "the nineteenth autumn" (7) implies they've been counting the autumns, hence the speaker has been there every autumn for 19 straight autumns. Additionally, the note at the end of the poem points out that "Yeats regularly summered there for many years," and the speaker doesn't seem completely unlike Yeats. But this doesn't eliminate the ageless quality; far from it. The speaker has been visiting for 19 years straight, and the swans haven't changed. There's also the implication that because it is the 19th autumn, that nature is very consistent in its cycles.
One of two puzzles I see in this poem is the irregular rhyme scheme. Sharon mentioned it's ABCBDD, but why does Yeats not rhyme the DD in the first stanza? Is it to bring attention to the "nine-and-fifty swans" (6)? Speaking of those 59 swans, there isn't a lot of significance to 59 the number. The most likely meaning is Beethoven's String Quartet No. 8, which Wikipedia mentioned that "the second movement of the quartet occurred to Beethoven as he contemplated the starry sky and thought of the music of the spheres." Of course, given the relative obscurity of 59, it could just simply be the actual number of swans.
CindyK -- wow, that's awesome. He does use the word "still" a lot. I didn't notice that. The diction choice certainly fits along well with the theme of the poem, and further establishes the idea that the lake --nature-- is essentially unchanged and somewhat immune to the "whips and scorns of time" (a little Hamlet action).
Erik, Peasant Slave of Denmark -- For some reason, I was picturing a much older man (I interpreted it as a grown, already aging man who returned to the lake some 19 years later after first counting the swans -- only to see them the same as they were, thus sparking his overwelming grief).
Cool analysis of the poem!
Connor -- That's true; I guess it does seem as if the speaker has been keeping a close eye on this particular lake consistently for many years. Thanks!
I don't know if this is really to state the obvious, but he is happy to see them when the poem starts, he thinks that they look pretty, and that the sceanery is pretty too. It's a nice season appearently.
The poem has this beautiful flow to it, this sense of admiration for how beautiful it is. He calls them 'brilliant creatures', though 'creatures', a rather negative connotated word, it still comes off nicely. And instead of calling them swans at the end, he describes each a 'lover'. In this sense, Yeats takes us back to how these birds are a symbol of love and beauty. He also, without comming out and saying it, that he is comparing them to human love, with the lines "Their hearts have not grown old;/Passion or conquest, wander where they will, "
It shows how their love is still young as time passes and there is still a spark in them.
In terms of sound, I'm picking up that is Iambic, but really confused on what the classify it as. I'm picking up mainly on four consistant feet, but also a consistant three feet.
I also agree that the tone of this poem is downhearted and dismal. Yeats seems to first portray this sadness literally in stanza three, where he states "And now my heart is sore". The beauty of autumn and all these swans is described so that the reader can focus on the beauty that these things behold. I loved the line "and scatter wheeling in great broken rings". I am not quite sure if I am right, yet I perceived these rings as the water being disrupted by the sudden movements that the swans made to leave the water. I also detected some personification in 23 about their passion and conquests. These birds seem to have so many heroic qualities-moving on until the bitter end.
When reading this poem, I got a feeling of a melancholy tone, like many have already mentioned
I feel like Yeats is not satisfied but he's not completely disappointed. This cycle that he sees between the seasons, the swans, and his life allows him to reflect upon his old life.
I feel like he's jealous of these swans because they're still "lover by lover" (19), "their hearts have not grown old" (22), and "wander where they will attend" (23-24), without worry. He wants this consistency in his life as well.
I got the melancholy tone because most of the tone has a slow pace. The long e sound in the first stanza with "trees", "beauty", "dry", and "sky." This long e sound brings out the soft, long, feeling he is trying to convey.
He also has a lot of imagery; since Sharon already said, he mentions a word related to autumn. These adjectives enhance the beauty of the image that is created into the reader's mind.
First of all, sorry to be argumentative but I dont think the man is 19 years old as some people have mentioned. I also have to argue with Connor for the sake of arguing and say that there was indeed a lapse of 19 years between his first and his present encounter. Typically we have the strongest recollections of our past associated with a certain place when we haven't visited that place for a very long time.
I found that there were many long vowel sounds throughout the poem giving it a more symphonic sound.
Thanks Connor Smith for your thoroughness while inspecting the number fifty-nine, it gave an interesting possible analogy. The arrangement of the number fifty nine slows the reader down in two ways. First- we are not used to seeing it written like that and it throws our rhythm way off balance. Second-it reads aloud less fluently, causing the reader to make the extra effort of readjusting their mouth one extra time than if it was written normally.
"The Wild Swans at Coole" gave me a reflectice attitude in which I was somewhat forced to think of things I am thankful for in life. He seems to almost be comparing his life to that of the swans.
The imagery in this poem is really what struck me. He so vivdly describes the water and sky. These images are both very visual of course. The other type of imagery that reached out and grabbed me was the organic imagery. If a poem can grab your heart and make you ponder life, there has to be some sort of organic imagery in there somewhere.
One part of his diction choice I noted was his "matter of fact" descriptions. There are "nine and fifty swans". This is "the nineteenth autumn" he has come to watch the birds. Every stanza involves either numbers or time. I like this personally because things generally need logic for me to give them any due credibility.
I think this change and pain is not coming from an bygone lover or anything though. I think it is a reference to the world. The poem was written in 1919 based on Wiki (should it be trusted?). There was the first World War going on then. I am sure this was a time of change and pain/misery.
I looked and thought, but I could not really find any significant examples of figurative language. I am sure some are deply hidden within, I just lack the gusto to find them.
I found the phyme scheme interesting. It was iambic, however the meter in every line was different from the previous. It goes tetrameter, trimeter, tetrameter(I think), trimeter, pentameter, trimeter. Some lines seemed factual, whilst other were thoughtful. I kind of like this, but it most surely presents a challenge.
Sharon, good job with the meter scheme. Natalie, I picked up on the same organic and kinetic imagery as you did. And as most of you have said, the tone was melancholy. I also sensed, in the speaker's tone, this tranquil sadness (if that's even possible). The setting is so peaceful, calm and beauty surrounds him but yet there's this heaviness that's exerted by speaker, and you also feel for him.
I also have to agree with Lauren that the swans are kind of the metaphors for his life, or maybe even his youth. When you think of love, "unwearied still" and "passion or conquest", you think of the young passionate, burning love and as time pass it grows out of that and into a companionship love.
I personally don't think that he's initially sad. I think that reminiscing over time and change is the cause of this sad tone. The whole time, the image I got was beauty of nature, the swans ("brilliant creatures"), under this "October twilight". So I have this feeling of tranquility that even though there's this sadness there's this feeling of acceptance and peace. It's more of this guy reminiscing, and looking back on his life which doesn't really come as depressing to me. But that's totally me, I might be wrong.
The sound was definitely slow paced, as most of you have said. And Nick and Grace, I agree with the calm sounds and the some parts where Yeats uses some hard ones. Good job guys.
I agree that this poem is about change. It seems fitting that we read this poem now because we are in a time where BIG change is about to happen. Both economically and to us personally. Economically, were an a recession and hopefully, with Obama, we can turn around and make our economy thrive again. As for us, we as seniors are about to make a big change from high school to college and it really is a big deal.
Anyway, I think that the speaker's life has kind of gone downhill as he got older. I think that the mood of this poem is depressed. I get this because the speaker's "heart is sore" and the setting is in the "twilight" in the fall. The fall seems to be the most depressing of the seasons because winter has New Years and Christmas, Summer has the sun and warmth, and Spring has bright colors and flowers everywhere. Fall, however, is the season where all the flowers and trees turn brown and die.
I also think that the speaker is almost reflecting on his life when he was younger and comparing it to what it is now and also to the swans. I almost get the sense that he is jealous of nature...?
Perhaps the strongest quality about The Wild Swans at Coole" by William Butler Yeats, is the way it integrates all of the elements of poetry, that is diction, imagery, figurative language, sound, rhythm, and ton, without a seam. Yeats manages to blend the more subtle aspects of figurative language and imagery into the more obvious usage of sound and rhythm. For instance, my favorite two lines of the poem, which happen near the end of the poem, "Delight men's eyes when I awake some day/
To find they have flown away?" The first thing I noticed the continued rhyming pattern between day and away. But, upon further inspection, the figureative language and imagery begin to show. This effect is used constantly to help show both the timelessness of nature, and the rather shortness, time-wise that is, of man.
I really like Nick's analysis of the poem, as well as Lauren's and Natalie's. Sharon, I think you're correct about the rhyming scheme, also.
As Nick said, the swan represents nature and its beauty. When I think of nature, I don't imagine stress or sadness. Generally, things in nature don't feel emotion the way humans do. It is a cycle of life. It is as if living things in nature go away, (and then new things come to replace them) rather than die, which has such a negative connotation. I see the fellow in this poem sitting by the lake, watching the swans, as if he is watching all of 'nature.' He dwells in his melancholy and reminisces about his life. He sees the swans as "unwearied" and almost oblivious, in a way, merrily "wander[ing] where they will."
Overall, the flow of the poem is smooth.
Cindy's observation of the word 'still' throughout the poem is interesting
I think you all had very interesting perspectives. I agree with Natalie in that the poet's choice of words and diction are fantastic. I would also like to connect this to what nick mentioned about this poem being very visual in constructing a vivid mental image of the environment. It is through the use of apposite diction that the mental image takes shape. "twilight" for example targets a perceptual set and triggers previously associated emotions.
I would also like to bring up that many poems about the natural environment are very visual. Do you guys know of any poems that focus more on audiory or olfactory aspects. I think it would be very interesting to read a poem about experiencing nature written by a blind poet.
The iambic meters present in this poem create a softness and aesthetic flow; this brings out the beauty of the swans. Also, this rhythm makes the poem feel relaxed overall and the time of nature seems to be still. This gentle flow is broken as I approached the second stanza. Lines 11-12 in the second stanza, “and scatter wheeling in great broken rings upon their clamorous wings,” create an image of swans scatter and fly away. The rhyme scheme used in this poem is ABCBDD. As Yeats visits the same place years later the world he lives in has changed greatly and he does not seem to enjoy this change. In lines 13-14, “I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, and now my heart is sore,” he is contrasting the still beautiful swan with the painful memories that he now have during the years between this visit and his first visit.
The concept of nature remaining the same is an interesting one, because nature is known for change and the cycles that it goes through. Nature doesn't represent beauty to me, it is beautiful, more than any man made object. The 59 swans are not the same ones he saw 19 years ago, but rather new ones, or at least I would think so. The idea that he has changed and the swans are perfect just shows man's frailty. The soeaker has gotten old and fragile, and he is reminiscing about his old days and his old lovers and in this spirit he envy's the perfection of the swans. But nothing is really perfect, and should the speaker choose to do so he too could regain his mental prowess. But in this case I think that the poem does show us much of the beauty of nature, and for that I am glad to have read it.
In my opinion, the meter does not make the poem as smooth and flowing as some people have mentioned. It is iambic, which i suppose makes it flowing, there are very frequent variations. Rather than making the poem easier to read fast, these variations act as "speed bumps" if you will, forcing the reader to slow down to accomadate for the change in meter. These variations contribute to the timelessness of the poem, because they enhance the slow, drifting image of the swans. As for diction, I think Cindy was right on with her oberservation that "still" occurs very frequently, this is significant to the poem. The word is used to describe the passing of time for the man, "passion or conquest, wander where they will, attend upon them still," here is he is percieving the stillness of nature in comparison to himself changing over the years. In other occurences, "still" is applied to nature in a physical sense, almost always to the stillness of the water on the lake.
I thought this poem was especially potent because it perfectly molded a mood. Along with the literal information the tone itself carries volumes of information. Yeats perfectly creates this atmosphere by using pertinent diction, using alliteration and assonance, and a dynamic tempo. But of all the elements of poetry, I thought his use of diction stood out the most. Along with using musical devices, I thought the words he used were particularly molded to fit his goals.
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