William Butler Yeats (Leaving Cert English): Revision Notes

The Wild Swans at Coole

Introduction to the poem

"The Wild Swans at Coole" was written by W.B. Yeats and published in a collection of the same name in 1917. This poem emerged when Yeats was in his fifties, describing a speaker who visits Coole Park in Ireland - a location that Yeats himself knew well. The poem centres on the speaker observing a large group of swans and comparing this present moment to his first visit to the park nineteen years earlier.

The poem carries a profound atmosphere of sadness and regret, with the speaker reflecting on qualities he feels he has lost over time. The work subtly hints at themes of lost love, and many scholars note the significance of its timing - written shortly before the end of World War I, during Ireland's struggle for independence from Britain.

Summary

The setting is an October evening at Coole, with autumn colours filling the trees and dry paths winding through the woods. The lake reflects the peaceful, still sky above, and the speaker can see fifty-nine swans swimming in the water that's nearly overflowing.

The speaker recalls that nineteen years have passed since he first visited this place and counted the swans. During his memory of that first visit, the birds suddenly took flight before he could finish counting them, soaring above him in large broken circles with noisy, powerful wingbeats.

Looking at these magnificent birds now brings the speaker heartache. Everything has transformed since he first stood by the lake shore at twilight and listened to the swans' wings beating like bells overhead. In those days, he walked with a much lighter step.

The swans remain as vibrant and full of life as they were years ago. Swimming in their pairs through the cold, pleasant water or taking to the sky, their hearts stay young and their lives continue filled with passionate desires and the freedom to travel wherever they choose.

At this moment, the swans float peacefully on the calm lake surface, distant and beautiful. The speaker wonders about their future - where they will build their nests, and which people will have the joy of seeing these swans when he wakes up one day to discover they have flown away from Coole.

Major themes

Time and ageing

"The Wild Swans at Coole" serves as a sorrowful, reflective poem where the speaker returns to an Irish lake (the "Coole" from the title) that he first visited nineteen years earlier. He observes the same group of swans as before, but instead of bringing him happiness, their beauty and energy now fill him with bittersweet emotions. This happens because the "unwearied" swans appear to have remained exactly the same - still filled with passion, mystery, and brilliance - while the speaker's own life has been transformed irreversibly by time's forwards movement.

The ageing process has caused the speaker to drift away from the energy and possibilities of his youth. Through ageing, the poem suggests, comes a clear sense of loss for all the life experiences left behind.

The poem opens by indicating that the speaker feels himself to be in the "autumn" of his life. This setting creates a sense of transition, which mirrors how the speaker feels that his hopes and dreams have ultimately passed him by, later described as "passion or conquest."

Observing the numerous elegant swans on the lake, the speaker begins to distinguish between the time when he first saw them (nineteen autumns ago) and the present moment. He clearly admires the swans, calling them "brilliant," but notes that everything has transformed since he first stood on Coole's shore. The swans' brilliance remains constant - true then and true now - which contrasts with how the speaker feels he has changed over the years. Previously, the speaker walked with "a lighter tread"; now his age and life experiences make him feel heavier and slower. This naturally contrasts with the ever-present grace of the swans, which appears the same now to the speaker as it was back then.

The swans' way of being reminds the speaker of how he himself used to be. This becomes clear through how the poem describes the differences between the swans and the speaker in the present day, suggesting that he used to possess more of the traits he continues to see in the birds. While the swans are "unwearied still" and "their hearts have not grown cold", the speaker can no longer claim the same of himself. The poem suggests that he has grown weary, and his heart has grown cold.

Regardless of the specifics, what matters most is how the speaker senses these changes to be irreversible: time can only move in one direction, and the good times - like the speaker's first visit to Coole - exist only as memories. There's no returning to the past. This is why the swans seem to evoke such bittersweet feelings for the speaker. There's something timeless, almost magical about their way of being. They also seem free to "wander where they will" and remain "mysterious, beautiful." They remind the speaker of what he has lost to time.

Nature vs. humanity

Nature in the poem appears as something that remains unchanging in its beauty and majesty. This creates a sense of division between the world of nature and that of human beings, which, as represented by the speaker, is acutely aware of time's passage and troubled by a sense of loss. Nature also seems untroubled by - perhaps even entirely indifferent to - human struggles, with the swans continuing to appear full of passion and vigour even as the speaker is weighed down by the hopes, dreams, and disappointments that people experience in life.

This doubles down on the poem's gentle sense of isolation and sadness about ageing, heartbreak, and perhaps even wider contextual issues like the First World War. These issues, the poem subtly suggests, remain small or insignificant in the face of nature's everlasting grandeur.

Nature is clearly not under the speaker's control: when he first tried to count the swans - a kind of application of human logic and rigour to nature - they soared into the sky "before [he] had well finished." The swans, naturally, didn't wait for him to finish counting, but just did whatever came instinctively to them.

Nevertheless, as the poem continues, the speaker projects his whole world of human feelings and emotions onto the swans. He characterises them as "lovers" with "hearts" that are set on "passion or conquest" as they please. But the sense of distance between the speaker and the swans remains obvious. That is to say, the swans are just going about their lives in accordance with their nature. They don't seem to doubt themselves or worry about their place in the world - they just inhabit their environment.

There's something almost comical - and tragic - about the speaker's attempt to view nature through the prism of his own feelings. That said, it's also something that everybody does, and so indicates something fundamental about the human condition: the need for understanding, sympathy, and narrative within the broader world.

The unchanging - and majestic - nature of the swans serves as a kind of stand-in for how his own life has had little effect on the world. While he might have wanted his life to make a difference in the past, now he feels too weary to believe that to be possible anymore.

Analysis, stanza by stanza

Stanza one

The opening stanza establishes the beautiful woodland setting in autumn. Readers can imagine the gorgeous colours of the leaves before they fall, and see the twilight reflecting off the water, where there are fifty-nine swans swimming. It's noteworthy that the speaker has focused on the swans enough to count all fifty-nine of them - he's clearly studying them intentionally. The way the speaker describes the beauty has a calming effect on readers. This place, called Coole, creates an atmosphere of quiet serenity. The scenery itself demands attention, and readers can picture themselves there, in this beautiful place, watching the swans.

Stanza two

In this stanza, the tone shifts to one of melancholic remembrance. The speaker explains that nineteen years have passed since his first visit to Coole when he first counted the swans on the lake. It's unclear whether the speaker means he has been visiting that place for nineteen years, or whether nineteen years have passed since he started keeping track of his time there, or whether nineteen years have passed since he started counting the swans.

Whatever the case, the speaker makes it clear that he has been to this place every fall for many years. Before the speaker even finishes counting these swans, they take off suddenly. He describes their departure as "wheeling in great broken rings". They appear "clamorous" to him as they take off in a flutter.

Stanza three

Here, the speaker turns his thoughts inward. After watching the "brilliant creatures", he admits that his "heart is sore". The reason for his aching heart is that everything has changed so much since he first watched those swans take flight nineteen years earlier.

The sight of the swans brings him back to the days when he "trod with a lighter tread". Perhaps he's remembering when he was younger and quite literally lighter, or perhaps he's remembering days when he did not live under such heavy burdens and could walk with a spring in his step. Whatever days he's remembering, he reveals that "all's changed since" those days.

Stanza four

In this stanza, the speaker contrasts the swans with himself. He has changed so much, and the swans have not changed at all. They are "unwearied still" and still paddle next to the very same lover. He says that "their hearts have not grown old". Neither has their passion faded. They are still free to "wander where they will".

Again, he implies the contrast between the swans and himself. While they have not grown old, he has. The awareness of how much he has changed brings sadness to his heart. The speaker also continues to contrast the swans with himself by noting that the swans swim in pairs, each having its own companion. The speaker contrasts this with his own lonely heart.

Stanza five

In this stanza, the speaker seems to be afraid that someday, the swans will simply leave him and everything will have changed. He admits that they are mysterious and beautiful creatures, and he doesn't know what they will do. He doesn't know whether or not they will always be at the lake in Coole, or whether they will find another "lake's edge or pool." He doesn't know which people's eyes they will delight someday when he wakes up "to find they have flown away".

The swans appear to be the one thing he can depend on as being the same year after year, and so he fears that one day they will leave him. He fears this change because he has already endured so much change, and the swans have been the one stable, unchanging thing in his life. Even though the swans have been there at least nineteen years, the speaker still seems to fear that they will leave.

The speaker has clearly become acutely aware of his own mortality. He is aware of how his body has changed since he had first visited the park, and he is aware of how his life has changed. He has more worries and cares, and probably more aches and pains associated with old age. In short, he's aware that his life has quickly passed him by, and while nature stays the same, everything else in his life has changed. He compares himself to the swans at the lake because they have not changed at all, and he has changed so much. This makes readers also aware of their own mortality.

Poetic techniques used

Imagery

Yeats creates rich visual imagery to depict the natural setting. "The trees are in their autumn beauty, / The woodland paths are dry" paints a vivid picture of the seasonal landscape. "Nine-and-fifty swans" provides a precise, almost mystical image of the swans on the lake. The imagery of "bell-beat of their wings" evokes both the sound and movement of the swans taking flight.

Symbolism

Swans symbolise beauty, constancy, youth, and the eternal. "Their hearts have not grown old" contrasts the unchanging vitality of the swans with the speaker's ageing. The season of autumn symbolises ageing and the approach of death. "The trees are in their autumn beauty" signals decline and reflexion.

Alliteration

This technique enhances the musicality of the poem. "Bell-beat of their wings above my head" uses repeated 'b' sounds to emphasise the splendour of the swans. "Brilliant creatures" - the repeated 'b' sounds emphasise the magnificence of the swans.

Enjambment

Yeats uses enjambment to create a flowing, contemplative rhythm that mirrors the natural movement of the swans and the poet's meditative state. "Unwearied still, lover by lover, / They paddle in the cold / Companionable streams" demonstrates this flowing technique.

Contrast

Yeats contrasts the changelessness of the swans with his own experience of ageing and change. "Their hearts have not grown old; / Passion or conquest, wander where they will" highlights the speaker's personal sense of loss and disconnection.

Natural setting as reflexion of inner state

The natural setting of Coole Park acts as a mirror for the speaker's inner melancholy and introspection, linking personal emotion with the landscape.