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 Views
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