The Wild Swans at Coole
The trees are in their autumn beauty,The woodland paths are dry,Under the October twilight the waterMirrors a still sky;Upon the brimming water among the stonesAre nine and fifty swans.
The nineteenth Autumn has come upon meSince I first made my count;I saw, before I had well finished,All suddenly mountAnd scatter wheeling in great broken ringsUpon 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 waterMysterious, beautiful;Among what rushes will they build,By what lake's edge or poolDelight men's eyes, when I awake some dayTo find they have flown away?
Words in this poem
- brimming a.
- Full to the brim; overflowing.
- nineteenth a.
- Following the eighteenth and preceding the twentieth; coming after eighteen others. [Cf. AS. nigonteó.]
- wheeling n.
- The act of conveying anything, or traveling, on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle.
- unwearied a.
- Not wearied; not fatigued or tired; hence, persistent; not tiring or wearying; indefatigable.
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Wild Swans at Coole is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Wild Swans at Coole, Project Gutenberg ebook #32491; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. B. Yeats, The Wild Swans at Coole, (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32491, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-wild-swans/the-wild-swans-at-coole.html, id L19998.
Form and metre
The Wild Swans at Coole is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A-- beauty · dryA · water · skyA · stones · swans
- 2 -A-ABB me · countA · finished · mountA · ringsB · wingsB
- 3 -A-ABB creatures · soreA · twilight · shoreA · headB · treadB
- 4 -A-ABB lover · coldA · air · oldA · willB · stillB
- 5 -A-ABB water · beautifulA · build · poolA · dayB · awayB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The trees are in their autumn beauty, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| The woodland paths are dry, | 6 | ·/···· |
| Under the October twilight the water | 11 | ···˘/˘/··/˘ |
| Mirrors a still sky; | 5 | /˘··· |
| Upon the brimming water among the stones | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| Are nine and fifty swans. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The nineteenth Autumn has come upon me | 10 | ·///˘····· |
| Since I first made my count; | 6 | ······ |
| I saw, before I had well finished, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| All suddenly mount | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| And scatter wheeling in great broken rings | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Upon their clamorous wings. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| And now my heart is sore. | 6 | ······ |
| All's changed since I, hearing at twilight, | 10 | ··˘··/˘·/· |
| The first time on this shore, | 6 | ······ |
| The bell-beat of their wings above my head, | 10 | ·········· |
| Trod with a lighter tread. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Unwearied still, lover by lover, | 9 | ˘/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| They paddle in the cold, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Companionable streams or climb the air; | 10 | ˘/˘˘˘····· |
| Their hearts have not grown old; | 6 | ······ |
| Passion or conquest, wander where they will, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Attend upon them still. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| But now they drift on the still water | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Mysterious, beautiful; | 7 | ˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Among what rushes will they build, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| By what lake's edge or pool | 6 | ······ |
| Delight men's eyes, when I awake some day | 10 | ˘/····˘/·· |
| To find they have flown away? | 7 | ·····˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.