The Wild Swans at Coole Summary:
Stanza 1:
It is the season of Autumn. The poet revisits the scene of Coole Park after nineteen years. The poet found the trees leaflets and still sky is reflected on the water of the lake. There are fifty-nine Swans seated on the stones on the shores of the lake.
Stanza 2:
Nineteen years have passed since the poet first visited the lake. The sight of the swans delighted him very much. The poet begin to count the swans. But before he could finish his count, the birds flew away.
Stanza 3:
As he looks upon the beautiful swans today, he does not feel the same rapture as he did nineteen years ago. When he saw for the first time, he felt elated and trod with light steps. But now he does not feel the same pleasure as his mind is afflicted with sorrows and sufferings. All has changed with him since he heard the sounds of the fluttering wings of the swans. He felt so happy at that time.
Stanza 4:
On the other hand, the swans still love or try to conquer their beloved heart with the same unwearied joy flying in the air in pair.
Stanza 5:
As the winter approaches, the swans will fly to the other region and delight the other men. Then the poet will miss them in their old haunts (i. e. Coole Lake)
The Wild Swans at Coole Poem Text:
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-nine swans.
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.
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.
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.
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?
The Wild Swans at Coole Questions Answers:
1. Describe the nature as described in the poem, “The Wild Swans at Coole”.
Ans: In “The Wild Swans at Coole”, the poet W.B. Yeats paints the fascinating vistas of the Coole Park. It is an autumnal atmosphere. The bare tress and the dry woodland paths present a sombre beauty. The water of the lake reflecting the still autumnal sky is tinged with twilight. The lake is brimful of still water and amidst such solemn beauty, fifty-nine Swans are flaunting their passionate vigour, which reflects the inevitable gulf between the mortal transience of the poet’s vigour and immortal gusto of the swans.
2. What does the swan symbolize in the poem, “The Wild Swans at Coole”?
Ans: The fifty-nine swans as described in W. B. Yeats’ poem “The Wild Swans at Coole”, symbolize eternal youth and passion that defy the ravages of time. They also symbolize unconquerable vigour and gusto that can ‘climb’ the air and make ‘Companionable’ even the ‘cold’ water. Again, they produce an illusion of immortality and they symbolize the union of time and timelessness, living at a time in mortality as “lover by lover” and immortality as “unwearied still”. Lastly, they symbolize inspiration to “delight men’s eyes”.
3. What does the scattering of the swans in great number signify?
Ans: In W. B.Yeats’ “The Wild Swans at Coole”, the scattering of the swans ‘in great broken rings’ resembled the shape of a gyre symbolizes the unconquerable eternity of the swans because to Yeats gyre is the structure of eternity. Though infact the swans also may grow old like Yeats himself, they manage to anticipate the structure of eternity that survives.
4. Why is the heart of the poet sore?
Ans: According to W. B. Yeats’ “The Wild Swans at Coole”, when the poet comes for the second time to the Coole Park to visit Lady Gregory, he observes the fifty-nine swans on the lake in the same vigour and gusto as he had observed them nineteen years before for the first time. To see the vigour of the swans, the poet’s heart is sore because it reminds him of his own senile debility and lack of passion. He realises the triumph of time over him, while the swans defy the ravages of time.
5. How does the poet describe the scene of the lake at Coole Park when he visited the Park for second time?
Ans: The poet, W. B. Yeats observes the wild swans at Coole Park for the second time after the passage of nineteen years. Pair by pair the swans swim in the cool stream of the lake water by cutting the water with their webbed feet. They float on the twilight-tinged water of the lake or fly high up in the air. They make a wild rout with a vigorous heart “unwearied still”.
6. “…….. when I awake someday/ To find they have flown away.” – What does the lines suggest?
Ans: The quoted lines are the concluding lines in W. B. Yeats’ poem, “The Wild Swans at Coole”. In this poem the swans, the part of Nature, actually symbolize the poet’s creative relationship with Nature. But at the end of the poem, through the quoted lines, the poet fears that one day the swans will have gone, leaving him desolate.
7. What is the theme of the poem, “The Wild Swans at Coole”?
Ans: W. B. Yeats’ “The Wild Swans at Coole” is a beautiful poem which deals with the contrast between the poet who is the subject of the ravages of time and the wild spirit of the swans which has ignored the ravages of time and has given rise to the illusion of immortality. The familiar sight of fifty-nine Swans moving together in pairs and flying evoke a sense of mystery and beauty. At last the poet awakes to the reality to find them gone.
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