“The Wild Swans at Coole” Introduction

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“The Wild Swans at Coole” Summary

“The Wild Swans at Coole” Themes

• 

  Time and Aging

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• 

  Nature vs. Humanity

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Wild Swans at Coole”

• Lines 1-4

  The trees are in their autumn beauty,
  The woodland paths are dry,
  Under the October twilight the water
  Mirrors a still sky;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Upon the brimming water among the stones
  Are nine-and-fifty swans.
  The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
  Since I first made my count;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  I saw, before I had well finished,
  All suddenly mount
  And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
  Upon their clamorous wings.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-18

  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.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-24

  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.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-30

  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?

  

  

  

  

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“The Wild Swans at Coole” Symbols

• 

  The Swans

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“The Wild Swans at Coole” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Diacope

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Pathetic Fallacy

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Rhetorical Question

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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“The Wild Swans at Coole” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Twilight
• Brimming water
• Nine-and-fifty
• Wheeling
• Clamorous
• Bell-beat
• Trod / Tread
• Unwearied
• Companionable
• Attend
• Rushes

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Wild Swans at Coole”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Wild Swans at Coole” Speaker

“The Wild Swans at Coole” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Wild Swans at Coole”

More “The Wild Swans at Coole” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem Out Loud — A reading of the poem on YouTube. 

  • Yeats In His Own Voice — A recording of Yeats reading some of his most famous poems. 

  • Yeats and the Supernatural — A clip discussing Yeats, faeries, and Irish occult tradition. 

  • Yeats and Irish Politics — A clip from a BBC Radio show that looks at Yeats's relationship to his home country. 

  • "No Country for Old Men" — This documentary takes an insightful look at Yeats's life and work. Its title—which you may recognize from the Oscar-winning film of the same name—comes from Yeats's poem "Sailing to Byzantium."

• LitCharts on Other Poems by William Butler Yeats

  • Adam's Curse

  • Among School Children

  • An Irish Airman Foresees his Death

  • A Prayer for my Daughter

  • Byzantium

  • Easter, 1916

  • He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

  • In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markievicz

  • Lapis Lazuli

  • Leda and the Swan

  • Sailing to Byzantium

  • September 1913

  • The Lake Isle of Innisfree

  • The Second Coming

  • The Song of Wandering Aengus

  • To a Shade

  • When You Are Old