An Analysis of William Butler Yeats' "The Wild Swans at Coole"

In poetry we find that most authors of great works created their powerful pieces at young ages. In contrast to that, William Butler Yeats’s greatest works revealed themselves only as he neared old age. To coincide with this phenomenon, Yeats wrote “The Wild Swans at Coole” which is a one of his moving testaments to the heart-ache of living in a time when a lot has changed. He expresses the effects he has weathered during the aging process through nature. Through the use of tone and other poetic devices, he conveys his personal feelings which sharply contrast with the swans which are the main symbols used in the poem.
We start out with the “autumn beauty” as the narrator stands at the edge of a large lake observing the swans. The first couple of stanzas contain a sense of solemn serenity describing the beauty of nature and especially the swans. An example of imagery expresses this bliss:
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;

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