Bearla: Yeats - The Wild Swans at Coole

“the water mirrors a still sky”

1st stanza has a calm, peaceful tone, assonance and alliteration

“the nineteenth autumn has come upon me.”

2nd stanza is melancholic in tone

“all’s changed.”

3rd stanza is bleak, theme of change

“to find they have flown away?”

5th stanza is uncertain; the swans appear to be the only constant in the speaker’s life, so he fears one day they will leave him and he will experience more change.

“their hearts have not grown old.”

Contrast of swans vs Yeats

“scatter wheeling in great broken rings.”

cacophony

“clamorous” “scatter”

onomatopoeia brings swans to life

“my heart is sore” “their hearts have not grown old”

repetition, the speaker is comparing the swans to himself

the speaker “trod with a lighter tread”

consonance, life experiences make the speaker feel heavier and slower, contrast with the grace of the swans

before I had well finished, all suddenly mount and scatter

Yeats tries to impose his own reflections on life on nature, but the swans remain oblivious — this is the human condition

fifty-nine swans

the speaker is clearly focused enough on the swans to count them precisely

wander where they will

the freedom of the swans in comparison to the speaker