The Wilde Swans at Coole

Question 1

Overview of poem from Chat

Answer 1

• Contrasting the unchanging swans with his own aging and change, implying a sense of loss and longing for the permanence they seem to have
• The swans, seen as symbols of love or partnership, highlight his loneliness or sense of incompleteness.
• The swans represent timeless beauty, in contrast to Yeats’ own decaying body and uncertain future.

Question 2

Quote 1

Answer 2

‘Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty Swans’

Question 3

Quote 1 Technique/s

‘Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty Swans’

Answer 3

• Imagery
• Symbolism

Question 4

Quote 1 Analysis

‘Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty Swans’

Answer 4

• Calm, natural scene, evoking a sense of peace and reflection.
• ‘brimming’ –> suggesting fullness, abundance, or even alludes to Yeats’ emotional overflow.

Question 5

Quote 2

Answer 5

‘The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count’

Question 6

Quote 2 Technique/s

‘The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count’

Answer 6

• Allusion to Passage of time
• Symbolism

Question 7

Quote 2 Analysis

‘The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count’

Answer 7

• ‘Nineteenth autumn…since I first made my count’ –> Emphasises Yeats departure from youth and alludes to inevitable aging that occurs with the passage of time.
• ‘Autumn’ –> Symbolises maturity and decline, as it’s the season before winter, (which often symbolises death in literature); Yeats feels older and more distant from his youth.

Question 8

Quote 3

Answer 8

‘The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread’

Question 9

Quote 3 Technique/s

‘The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread’

Answer 9

• Alliteration and Consonance
• Personification
• Contrast

Question 10

Quote 3 Analysis

‘The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread’

Answer 10

• ‘lighter tread’ reflects the poet’s youth or past ease.
• Personifying wings and tread to portray swans and Yeats as the same.
• The lightness of the poet’s past tread is contrasted with the heaviness he feels in the present, emphasizing change over time

Question 11

Quote 4

Answer 11

‘But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful’

Question 12

Quote 4 Technique/s

‘But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful’

Answer 12

• Contrast
• Imagery
• Adjective placement and effect

Question 13

Quote 4 Analysis

‘But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful’

Answer 13

• ‘But’ –> takes us away from the comparison of himself and the swans, while the tone shifts to stillness and beauty of the scene.
• ‘drift’ –> Connotations of floating, aimlessly, guided only by the waters wishes; natures wishes.
• ‘still water’ when earlier it was ‘brimming’ –> Suggests Yeats has come to terms with his previously overflowing emotions