A Reading of Yeats ¡°The Wild Swans at Coole¡±

In The Wild Swans at Coole, Yeats recreates a moment of inspiration and awe that he experienced in his youth. He is adept at recalling the feel of that particular evening and the ¡®October twilight¡¯. He includes details of the trees and woodland paths as if retracing his steps in his memory. The image of the stillness of the ¡®brimming water¡¯ and the sky mirrored in it is particularly effective. The stillness is contrasted with the sudden movement and breaking of the breathless serenity as the swans ¡®suddenly mount and scatter wheeling¡¯. The swans are ¡®wild¡¯ and have that untamed beauty and freedom that resists the poet¡¯s attempts to capture them in his mind¡¯s eye. The ¡®broken rings¡¯ that the birds form contrasts with the symmetry of the mirrored sky. They embody a kind of natural power and strength. The poet recalls the sound of their wings as being ¡®clamorous¡¯ against the background of stillness with the unexpected metaphor of the ¡®bell-beat...