The Wild Swans at Coole (poem)
The Wild Swans at Coole | |
---|---|
by | |
Rhyme scheme | ABCBDD |
Publication date | 1917 |
Lines | 30 |
Full text | |
The Wild Swans at Coole (Collection) at Wikisource |
"The Wild Swans at Coole" is a
It was written during a period when Yeats was staying with his friend
Style and structure
The poem has a very regular
Poem
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?[2]
Popular culture
In his LP Branduardi canta Yeats (1986), Angelo Branduardi sings an Italian version (I Cigni di Coole) of this poem.
See also
References
External links
- "The Wild Swans at Coole" at the Poetry Foundation website
- "The Wild Swans at Coole" at Project Gutenberg
- "The Wild Swans at Coole" at Irish Around The World
- "Mr Yeats' ardent new poems" (review) in The Manchester Guardian, Sunday 6 April 1919