Wild Swans at Coole. W. B. Yeats

Transcription

1 Wild Swans at Coole W. B. Yeats

2 Background Published in 1918 Coole Park was a retreat for Yeats. It was a property owned by the Gregory family and had been in that family for 200 years. Yeats said it was one of the few houses that had always been a place of peace. Yeats was Lady Gregory s protégé and spent much time there where he found ideal conditions to work. Much of Yeats verse contains imagery that can be traced beack to his time at Coole Park. The wild swans were very different from their tame and protected English counterparts. He was, in 1917, suffering from artistic as well as personal depression. He was feeling old although he had just married (Georgie Hyde-Lees)

3 In the first stanza, the clarity of description is evident in the use of short clear descriptions to create enormously vivid description. The poem is set in autumn and clearly represents the poet himself entering the autumn years of his life. The last light of the day/ faint light, shows the peacefulness of this time of transition in the day, but also reinforces the poet s position in the poem. Twilight suggests a state of imperfect understanding Plentiful Focus begins straight away with nature Sounds old fashioned, but is also more rhythmical and musical. In Gaelic the tens are given first. The harmony of the language reflects the harmony of the scene. Autumn beauty gold and red hues. A time of productivity before the onset of winter THE TREES are in their autumn beauty, The woodland paths are dry, Under the October twilight the water Mirrors a still sky; Upon the brimming water among the stones Are nine and fifty swans. Repetition of water reinforces idea of purity, innocence, cleansing. Sibiliance. Creates a sense of tranquility and relaxation Tracks/ journeys that many others have traveled. They are clear, not muddy The sky mirrored in the lake firstly suggests the stillness of the day but implies poetically a union of the poet s vision with his surroundings. The unity of the soul with aspirations is achieved by his surroundings if not by the poet.

4 In the second stanza, the concept of time is introduced. Our attention is focused on how actions and events can infiltrate what one might otherwise be focusing on Time is measured in seasons, not years Represents how age is actively overpowering him Yeats begins to paint himself into the picture by using first person, personal pronoun. The stillness of his counting is contrasted against the movement of the birds. The nineteenth Autumn has come upon me Since I first made my count; I saw, before I had well finished, All suddenly mount And scatter wheeling in great broken rings Upon their clamorous wings. Suggests that the swans ride into the sky on their wings, the suddenness of a rider mounting a horse, no slow transition but an event completed in one action Uses the image of the circular path taken by the swans Gives the swans a wild, untamed air. They are natural, unbridled. They are their own horsemen. Noisy Word choice suggests that there is something incomplete

5 On one level he is simply talking about the beauty and majesty of the birds themselves and how they are changeless compared to his aging self. Could argue that hear we hear a trace of his loss of Maud Gonne who too was a beautiful creature, but there is more to the line than simply this. Complete and encompassing Nineteen years have passed since his first visit as a young man to Coole in He was physically sick, homeless, and she took him in and gave him enough money and security to write. Alliteration echoes the sound of the wings I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, And now my heart is sore. All s changed since I, hearing at twilight, The first time on this shore, The bell-beat of their wings above my head, Trod with a lighter tread. Only line that ends in a full stop in the middle of the stanza. Adds weight to the line. Adds weight to how much pain he is in. Repetition of idea The sound of the wings echoes the steps of the man and the connection between the young man s footsteps and an older man s heavy tread is clearly seen. Not only is he physically aging, but it appears he is weighed down by his years.

6 Not just love: passion; exuberance; inspiration The swans provide a direct contrast to the weariness and despondency of the poet. The swans appear eternal; of course, they are not the same swans as nineteen years ago, but they appear to be. The fact that there are 59 swans, suggests that one is alone. Unlike some of his poems, which deal directly with his unrequited love, by this time, Maude Gonne merely surfaces now and again as a mellow regret. The use of enjambment here, suggests that the poet is envious of the 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. companionship that the swans possess. The water is cold, but companionable suggests that they get warmth from one another. Reinforcing the ideas that their hearts alludes to, in more specific terms. These are the things Yeats feels he has lost. Passion and conquest reflect the driving forces which Yeats believed were essential to make a poet. He fears his passions are gone and he is The swans are passive in this area. The passion and conquest ATTEND UPON THEM, not the other way around.

7 The word But takes us back from his comparison of himself and the swans and the tone shifts from the previous movement and sound and his envy of their ability, to the stillness and beauty of the original scene. But now they drift on the still water Mysterious, beautiful; Among what rushes will they build, By what lake s edge or pool Delight men s eyes, when I awake some day To find they have flown away? Connotations of floating, aimlessly, guided only by the water s wishes: nature s wishes. There is a oneness between the swans and nature.