The Wild Swans at Coole – Class 12 English Chapter 11 Notes & NCERT PDF

About the Poet: W.B. Yeats (1865–1939)

W.B. Yeats was an Irish poet, dramatist and mystic. He was one of the driving forces behind the Irish Literary Revival and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. The Wild Swans at Coole is set at Coole Park, where the poet returns year after year and watches the swans on the lake.

Stanza-wise Meaning

Stanza 1 — An autumn evening at the lake

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.

It is autumn: the trees are beautiful, the paths dry, the October twilight falls, and the water mirrors a still sky. On the brimming water float nine-and-fifty (59) swans. The setting is calm, but autumn and twilight hint at the later years of life — the poet himself is ageing.

Stanza 2 — Nineteen years of counting

The nineteenth autumn has come upon me

Since I first made my count;

It is the nineteenth autumn since he first counted the swans. Then, before he had finished counting, they all suddenly mount and scatter wheeling in great broken rings / Upon their clamorous wings — a vivid image of noisy, circling flight.

Stanza 3 — The sore heart

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,

And now my heart is sore.

Looking at the brilliant creatures makes his heart sore. All's changed since the first time, when, hearing the bell-beat of their wings above his head, he trod with a lighter tread. The light tread refers to his youthful, carefree step nineteen years ago; the sore heart to his present sadness, age and loss.

Stanza 4 — Swans that never grow old

Unwearied still, lover by lover,

They paddle in the cold

Companionable streams or climb the air;

Their hearts have not grown old;

The swans are unwearied; they move lover by lover (in pairs), paddle in the cold / Companionable streams or climb the air. Their hearts have not grown old; passion or conquest still attend upon them wherever they wander. In contrast, the poet has grown old, tired and, by implication, lonely.

Stanza 5 — The mystery of the future

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?

Now the swans drift, mysterious, beautiful. The poet wonders among what rushes they will build, by what lake they will delight men's eyes when he wakes one day to find they have flown away. The ending suggests loss, change and perhaps death — the beauty will continue somewhere, but not for him.

Themes

Contrast Between the Swans and Human Life

The swans are unwearied, passionate, paired and seemingly unchanged over nineteen years; human life brings weariness, loss, loneliness and a heavy heart. (Note that the count — fifty-nine, an odd number — implies one swan without a mate, echoing the poet's own solitude.)

Literary Devices & Form

Word Power

Board Exam Focus

Common Mistakes