The Wild Swans at Coole Questions and Answers

 

1. Attempt a Critical appreciation of The Wild Swans at Coole .

The Wild Swans at Coole is a beautiful nature poem . The trees are in their sombre beauty of early autumn. The woodland paths are dry.; The rosy, cloudless sky of the autumnal twilight is reflected on the placid surface of the lake in the evening. The nine and fifty swans swim on the wooded mountain lake now full of water to the brim. The poet remembers how nineteen years before the swans suddenly rose up on their wings wheeling pell mell in the sky in broken circles over the head and making loud whistling sounds. Pair by pair they now swim in the cool inviting stream. They move about on the marshy coast or fly high up in the sky.

But the poem is most appealing in its subjective note of intense melancholy. The poet speaks of the sudden change that has come upon him since he first saw the flock of swans of Coole nineteen years ago. He feeis that in his maturity he has lost the buoyancy of spirit that he experienced earlier. He has grown old. He feels

the burden of years on him. He says

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures. And now my heart is sore.

 

All’s changed since’……..

In the poem, the symbolism is deftly hidden. It is chastened and refined. The swans stand for eternal yuth and love. “Human beauty love and passion are subject to decay but not so the powers of the objects of nature. If man is subject to decay, Nature always stands fresh and young. Age cannot weary her nor can custom stale her infinity beauty. Truo beauty and passion reside in nature and not in the hearts of men.”

The style as adopted in the poem is simple bare and unadorned. The simplicity of diction and felicity of expression characterize the poem.

Q. 2. “Yeats’s poetry possessed, and still has, precious gifts of Nauure”-Give an appreciation of The Wild Swans at Coole in the light of this statement.

Ans. The Wild Swans at Coole is primarily a nature poem. The poem shows that “Yeats’s poetry has become increasingly intellectual. It possessed, and still has precious gifts of nature it knew how to raise with words the spell of a mysterious atmosphere, how to efface the outlines of material objects in a dreamy mistiness, and to draw the most aerial and spare images upon this their grey backgorund.”

The trees with their luxuriant foliage are in the ripe sombre beauty of early autumn. The woodland paths made by the treading by the rustics of the wood are still dry because it is now early autumn and the rains and mists of the autumn have not begun. The rosy cloudless sky of the autumnal twilight is calm and reflected on the placid and transparent surface of the lake in the evening. On the wooded mountain lake now full of water to the brim with rocks and boulders rising their heads here and there nine and fifty swans swim.

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 smong the stones Are nine and fifty swans.

The poet remembers who nineteen years before the whole flock of swans suddenly rose up on their wings wheeling pell-mell in the sky in broken circles over the head and making loud whistling sounds by the flapping of their wings. Hardly had the poet finished counting the swans

All suddenly mount And scatter wheeling in great broken rings Upon their clamorous wings.

Yeats looks at the wild swans at Coole for the second time after the passage of nineteen years. Pair by pair they swim in the cool inviting stream by cutting the water with their webbed feet. They move about on the marshy coast or fly high up in the air. They make a wild rout in keen pursuit of their mates or in fighting with a rival bird :

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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The Wild Swans at Coole Questions and Answers

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