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?
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Comments
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This is a wonderful poem, and I can't help but feel for Yeats in line 6. The whole idea that there are only "nine-and-fifty Swans" when swans mate for life is powerful. The idea that he is alone like that last swan - powerful image.
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This poem has deeply effected me.its about life ,how it goes on ,we move on in life but things remain the same-the swans will always be there but Yeats won't be
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wrarr....
after reading this poem i feel so wild that i feel like saying wrarr again and again....and again...............forever and ever.......wrarr...i will keep on saying till i take my last breath..........wrarr... -
ggreat
i think this poem is beautiful and love the way yeats has described his life in this way using such a beautiul creature. -
i love how he goes from a concrete point, talking about swans, to the abstract of the swans only being there to represent his lost youth.
this is a great poem about Yeat's realization of his lost youth. beautiful. -
Wonderful poem about nature......
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glad someone commented. I think this is pretty much as good as it gets,
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HAHA, I just read that this is a W.B. Yeats poem.... Now I feel a bloody fool for commenting on it. =/ oh well. Its all good.
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thumbs up
Wonderful Imagery in a classic style. There is so much nature packed into this piece that I could smell the moist earth. You have no idea how much that means to me.... its an escape from the concrete junlge. Thank you for sharing this wonderfully written piece.
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