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-fifty 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 woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
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;
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?
v Introduction
· Yeats lived between 1865- 1939.
· He belongs to an upper class family.
· He received classes in arts.
· In his youth, William Butler Yeats suffered from dyslexia 'a learning problem'. He was not able to learn the alphabet. Later, he turned into the greatest Irish poet in the 20th century.
· He visited the Cool Park nineteen years before in 1896. This poem was written in 1915 after revisiting the same place 19 years after.
· He makes a comparison between the present and the past.
· He contrasts himself as an individual with the swans as wonderful creatures in this universe.
· He was about to turn 50 years old. He is aging, fading, and will eventually die.
· The swans reflect his emotional and spiritual self.
v Difficult words :
? Swans: kind of birds bigger than doves and smaller than
? Coole: a place, Coole Park in Galway, Ireland
? Mirrors: reflects
? Brimming: running water
? Mount: fly away
? Scatter: fly in different directions
? Rings: circles
? Clamors: making noise
? Paddle: swim
? Companionable: friendly
? Climb: fly
? Drift: swim without effort
Paraphrase
First stanza
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-fifty Swans.
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-fifty Swans.
The speaker gives us a wonderful description of Cool Park in Galway, Ireland. The trees are green and dressed in all their beauty. The passages are dry and made of wood. It is October time. It is dusk, time just before sunset. The water is shallow and it reflects the still sky above. The water is lapping at the edge of the lake and running though stones. He can count fifty nine swans at that time.
Second stanza
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.
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.
The speaker admits that he visited that place nineteen years ago. When he is about to finish his count of the swans, they fly away suddenly and go in different directions forming broken circles. The quietness of the place is disturbed by the swans' wings' continuous beats.
ü The poet repeats the word autumn in order to emphasize that he is ageing and fading while the swans remain beautiful.
ü Paradox: clear contradiction, the swans must be subjected to the cycle of change.
Third stanza
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. The speaker describes how he feels at that moment. He feels painful in his heart simply because everything around him has changed completely. He remembers at that moment the first visit when he used to walk happily, energetically and in agile way while seeing the swans at dusk and hearing their wings' bell-like beats above his head.
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. The speaker describes how he feels at that moment. He feels painful in his heart simply because everything around him has changed completely. He remembers at that moment the first visit when he used to walk happily, energetically and in agile way while seeing the swans at dusk and hearing their wings' bell-like beats above his head.
ü The last line is ambiguous to some extent .
ü The description of walking lightly and energetic ally in agile way is used to refer either to the speaker or to the swans. Yeats himself is walking lightly
Fourth stanza
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. William Butler Yeats gives us a description of the swans' way of life. They are happy and never worried about the future. They are faithful to one another. They fly as lovers and friends. They are still young and they will remain so forever. They have a deep desire inside for achieving goals and success.
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. William Butler Yeats gives us a description of the swans' way of life. They are happy and never worried about the future. They are faithful to one another. They fly as lovers and friends. They are still young and they will remain so forever. They have a deep desire inside for achieving goals and success.
ü Line. 5 ''personification'' the swans are personified as human beings. They have deep desire to achieve their dreams.
Fifth stanza
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?
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 speaker describes the swans and reflects his feelings at the same time. The swans are swimming in the surface of the water without effort. They are mysterious and beautiful. They will leave this place in order to inhabit another lake. He is sad because, sooner or later, they will move to a different place. Seeing swans pleases men's eyes. He is quite envious. He feels painful because one day he will wake up to find that they have flown away.
? Why are they mysterious ?
ü They will remain young forever
ü Line.3: he is sure that they will leave this lake and settle in a different place. They will move sooner or later .
ü Line.5+6: he is sad because they will move to another place .Seeing them please man's eyes .He is quite envious because they will leave in order to please others' eyes .
V. Imp. Q :
S William Butler description of the Coole Park is unique and marvelous, illustrate.
1. It’s October time; it’s twilight; it’s time just before sunset.
2. The trees are colored with green leaves. They are dressed in all their beauty.
3. The wooden passages are dry and the weather itself is dry and bright.
4. The water at Coole Lake is like a mirror reflecting the still, quiet sky above.
5. The water is lapping at the edge of the lake and running through the stones.
6. Fifty- nine swans are floating on the surface of the lake.
7. The swans fly away all of sudden and move in different directions forming broken circles.
8. The swans' wings' continuous beats are making a lot of noise, disturbing the quiet scene.
9. The swans are wonderful and brilliant creatures.
10. The swans ' wings' continuous beating is bell-like.
11. The swans are happy, energetic and not worried.
12. The swans are faithful to each other. They are true lovers and true friends.
@The word ''true '' is used twice for two reasons:
- To emphasize the idea.
- The word is used sometimes only to describe love but in this case it used to describe friendship as well.
13. The swans are young. They know nothing about aging.
14. They have passion and strong desire to attain their goals and to achieve success.
15. They swim without efforts on the surface of the lake.
16. They are mysterious and beautiful.
17. The sight of the swans pleases one's eyes.
18. One day, the swans will leave Coole Park to another place.
v Form:
- The poem is a regular lyric .
- It is written in 5 stanzas; each consists of 6 lines of verse.
v Rhyme scheme:
- It goes as a b c b d d:
- Lines 2+4 rhyme ‘‘dry-sky’’,
- Lines 5+6 concluding couplet ''swans – stones’’.
- st.3: ''lover – air'' ; the /r/ sound is accepted to be rhymed according to American accent. Yeats is an Irish poet.
Approximate, slant, off rhyme: St.5; ''beautiful –pool'': The last consonants are similar but all the preceding sounds are different. Internal rhyme: lover by lover. Crossed rhyme: “will-still-still” at the end of st.4 and the beginning of st.5''. perfect masculine rhyme : C V C : C V C dry – sky, cold –old v Rhythm: It is a modern poem. There is no specific pattern for rhythm.
v Language:
1- It is simple, direct, precise, natural and understood.
2- It is a descriptive poem ‘‘example’’.
3- The use of the same word order of today. A good example is st.1 ,l.1+2
4- The use of enjambment. Stanza one as a whole is given as one sentence.
5- It is a repetitive poem .Some words are repeated such as; water, lover by lover which is repeated to emphasize that they are faithful. Autumn is repeated in order to emphasize the passage of time.
6- Lines differ in length. st.1, l.5-6.
7- The excessive use of modifiers to describe the swan. They are clamorous, brilliant, mysterious …etc.
8- It is a figurative poem. st.4 ,l.4
9- The use of mono-syllabic words, complete lines are given in mono- syllabic words such as; st.3, l.4 – st.2, l.2 – st.5, l.2.
(It is not prose-like)
v Tone:
Ø 1- Quiet and serene tone:
It is quiet and serene because he describes Coole Park. The water is quiet and the sky above is still. The atmosphere of Coole Park is surrounded by quietness.
Ø 2- Troubled and disturbing tone:
The quiet scene in stanza one is disturbed by the noisy beats of the swans' wings.
Ø 3- Painful tone:
He feels pain in his heart for everything around him has changed completely.
Ø 4- Admiring tone:
The speaker admires the swans for being true lovers and true friends and for having strong desire to attain their goals.
Ø 5- Envious and regretful tone:
It is envious because the swans will remain beautiful forever and they will leave the place to please other men’s eyes.
It is regretful because, one day, the swans will leave Coole Park to another place.
v Figures of Speech:
· Metaphor: St.1, l.4; the water is compared to a mirror which can reflect the still sky above.
· Metaphor: st.3, l.5, the sound of the swans' wings' beats is compared to the sound of a bell.
· Personification: st.4, the swans are given two human features .They have passion or conquest to attain their goals and to achieve success.
· Metonymy: St.3, l.2, Heart is used to refer to Yeats's emotional and spiritual self.
· Contrast: the poet contrasts the past to the present. Yeats now is old and aging, while the swans are still young.
· Paradox: the poet says that the swans will remain young forever. The swans, however, like all other creatures in this universe should be subjected to cycle of change.
v Theme: Immortality
