Analysis of The Wild Swans At Coole

William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)



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?


Scheme ABCBDEAFGFHHIJKJLLCMNMOOCPQRSS
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 011011010 01111 1000101010 10011 01010100101 110101 0111011011 111111 110111110 11001 0101001101 01111 1110111010 011111 11111011 011111 0111110111 110101 1110110 110001 111101 111111 1011010111 010111 111110110 0100100 01110111 111111 0111110111 1111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 974
Words 176
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 30
Lines Amount 30
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 789
Words per stanza (avg) 174
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 31, 2023

53 sec read
132

William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. more…

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