Read this poem, paying special attention to sound, rhythm, and meter. I'll do you the favor of pointing out that the author's use of rhyme, line breaks and enjambment help to reinforce his purpose. Please remember to read each other's posts and comment on each other's ideas--don't monologue.
Also, please read the previous post from Mrs. Minor about getting your essays scored and back to you.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
23 comments:
Throughout the poem, Yeats seems to favor the iambic and trochaic forms of verse, choosing to begin each stanza of the poem with the former meter type (such as in the poem's first line, "The trees are in their autumn beauty") and to end most stanzas with the latter meter type (such as in the final two lines of the first stanza, "Upon the brimming water among the stones/Are nine and fifty swans"). When I read the poem, I felt that the inclusion of the trochaic form in so sudden a manner as what occurs in the poem disrupted the poem's rhythm a bit too much. However, I did find that my attention was immediately drawn to those lines structured in that particular verse form, and I came to notice that many of the poem's significant points were made in that form - it is in that form that the speaker first notices the swans, that he describes their manner of flight, that he speaks of their agelessness. I wondered if perhaps that was how Yeats meant the poem to read, if he felt that the change in verse form would alert the reader to whatever argument he sought to make.
I also noticed as I read the poem that those shifts in meter form to occur were most often accompanied by enjambment. The example of this that stood out to me the most came in the third stanza, when the speaker discusses the changes that have befallen him since he first saw the swans: "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". The breaks between those sentences slowed their flow considerably, and I found myself considering them more than I might've otherwise, without those syntactical pauses.
I agree completely with Hari, in fact our posts would probably be about the same. I think that the break in the meter type is absolutely intentional. And this might be way off base. But in my opinion the entire feels almost like bursts of thought coming from him while he's standing there watching the swans. And I think the type of meter Yeats uses Iambic and Trochaic verse forms to create this effect, allowing us to experience the flight of the swans right along with the speaker. I also thought that the continuation of a thought on the next line, and the enjambment helped the poem to flow better. Not only did it connect the stanza as a whole but it drew my eye to the next line. It also helps to create a soft feeling to the poem and accent the peace that the speaker feels.
Also the word choice is fairly euphoric. He uses hard consonants but for the most part they are accompanied by soft consonants to keep with the poem's overall mood.
I also noticed a prevalence of the iambic meter throughout the poem with some breaks mostly at the end of paragraphs. The ryhm scheme was mostly abcbdd throughout the poem, except in the first paragraph. The last two lines ("Upon the brimming water among the stones/ Are nine and fifty swans"). "Swans" and "stones" have a similar sound but do not follow the explicit rhyming pattern of the other ending lines. This variation in structure made these lines stand out when I was first reading it. This emphasis directs readers to the focus of the poem: the appearance of the swans. I also agree with Camden about the use of hard and soft sounds. The mix of the two throughout the poem helps it to flow at a pretty constant speed, especially with the consistent meter. I did notice that shorter lines had more long sounds in them that helped to reinforce the steady pace from line to line. The poem is about the steadiness of the swans whose "hearts have not grown" and the structure of the poem mirrors this. Also lines describing the swans had a lot of soft slow sounds like "w" and "s" ("Passion or conquest, wander where they will...."But now they drift on still water") that helps add gives sound to the imagery of the slow graceful swans.
I also noticed what Krista said about the rhyme scheme being abcbdd and how the first stanza doesn't follow this pattern. I think this is the speaker introducing what he is about to talk and the reverance he feels toward the lake and swans. I agree that Yeats uses both iambic and trochaic meters. He starts with iambic in the first half and then switches to trochaic.
The use of consonants and vowels gives each line a soft and calm feeling. "All's changed since I, hearing at twilight, / the first time on this shore..." Even though there are a lot of 't' sounds, the line is easy to read. The hard consonants but soft sound helps to portray the feeling the speaker is trying to convey about the swans.
People before me on this blog noted the iambic and trochaic rhythm. I also noticed that the iambic adds more flow and rhythm to a line, while a trochee slows it down, almost as if it's picking the words to emphasize one by one, like in line 13 (I have...). The iambic portions were coupled with enjambment, because it aided in the flow the author was trying to create. The trochaic lines all have to come to a complete stop, because the rhythm is not as smooth.
In line 11, I am not sure but I believe that the line ends with two anapests, which I found really stretched out and slowed down thos portions, really emphasizing specific words and adding to the author's purpose, to describe the majesty of the swans. I also noticed that the second and fourth line of every stanza have an end rhyme. This seperates the last two line from the rest of each stanza, leaving them to paint a specific and more powerful picture.
As my fellow colleagues have pointed out, this poem has quite a bit of different kinds of rhyme schemes, line breaks, enjambment, and all kinds of goodies to help reinforce the authors purpose. The poem essentially follows the abcbdd rhyme scheme. Personally I don't like this scheme, it's choppy and aabbccdd is much better. So I guess the whole thing is written in iambic meter, with trimeter, tetrameter and pentameter fit in to different lines. Fun. Not that it has anything to do with rhythm, well a little bit I guess, but I don't like how he says nine and fifty, it more like throws off the rhythm.
As previously mentioned the meter and rhyme scheme help to break up the different lines and give the poem its structure. What has not been addressed is the reason for doing this. When Yeats does this he is able to create a notion then contradict it in the next line. For example in lines 20 and 21 he says “They paddle in the cold/ companionable streams or climb the air.” If isolated line 20 sounds rather negative and creates cold feeling, but then he alters that piece of imagery in the next line by using very euphoric and slow language that talks about companionable or friendly streams. This inviting language is the complete opposite of what was first described.
One reason for doing this is to show that there is more than meets the eye. He initially describes the superficial and obvious description of the situation—a cold body of water—then immediately counters that with his description of serenity. This helps to make his point more effective. Thus the use of line breaks adds to the overall point of the poem and helps to further his claim that the wild swans are more than just birds on a lake.
Yeats uses the two different types of rhythm patterns in the poem to convey different types of emotions. The Iambic and Trochaic meters are used in different parts of the poem and have separate jobs, the former is more excited and the speaker seems like he is talking faster, while the latter, the speaker is calmer and speaks slower for emphasis. I agree with the abcbdd pattern other people have mentioned. The sudden change in one rhythm pattern to another distracts the reader and makes them pay more attention to what is being said. Also, hard sounds and soft sounds are used in contrast to portray his emotions as well. The overall effect of the poem is broken down into two parts, because he switches his meter in the middle. I noticed that the few lines in the end have words with unusually long vowels compared to other parts of the poem. He ends his poem on slow note.
This poem sort of exasperates me. I think it's well-written and the poem almost flows, but lines have too many syllables to flow as effortless as I should like. For example, the first and second lines are trochaic, but the lines that follow (except for the last line in the stanza) are not. Another feature I noticed was how in the first stanza, the last word of the 2nd to last and last lines are slant rhymes together. However, all subsequent stanzas, the 2nd to last and last lines actually rhyme, not just slant rhyme. I wonder if that was to strongly emphasize just how many swans there were. Also, the first stanza is the one without any swans. It's describing the scene. Once the swans arrive, not only does the poem switch the focus to them, but the structure of the poem changes as well, as though to show the differences between the beginning and the rest of the poem. That's all my thoughts for now- I'll come back in the morning once I've thought of some new ideas.
Everyone's discussed the changes in iambic and trochaic meter and the choices of line breaking with enjambment pretty thoroughly, looks like. (I agree a lot with Hayden's thoughts on the line breaks and the resulting enjambment---it's pretty neat.)
Not much for me to add, there.
But there's one thing that no one seems to have talked about yet:
Yeats definitely mixes up the rhythm of the poem, with mostly iambic meter in the first half and then trochaic meter in the second, with changes from one to the other and some anapest mixed within. It's all pretty unmissable, yes, but it's definitely not all that jarring as you read the poem as a whole.
If you put the poem through a little scansion, you'll find out why---the poem has a definite underlying structure of meter throughout, from stanza to stanza.
In each stanza,
- the first line is tetrameter, with four emphasized syllables.
- the second line is trimeter, with three emphasized syllables.
- the third line is pentameter, with five emphasized syllables.
- the fourth line is trimeter, with three emphasized syllables.
- the fifth line is pentameter, with five emphasized syllables.
- The sixth line is trimeter, with three emphasized syllables.
Amazing, huh. A stress pattern of 4-3-5-3-5-3 through the entire poem.
It holds the poem together even though the iambic/trochaic bit is really inconstant. It gives the poem a mixed sense of poetry and prose, I think.
It's definitely lyrical (I think it's lyrical in both in a general and classical sense, actually), yet very prose-like.
It's definitely poetry, yet sounds like natural speech and thought.
I'm not exactly sure about how this relates to his purpose (maybe that's why no one mentioned it so far), but it definitely contributes a lot to the tone.
I'll think about it's impact on the purpose a bit more.
I agree with Scott that the poem does not flow smoothly because of the rhyme scheme (abcbdd). I also agree with everyone who said that Yeats uses Iamb and Trochee. He uses each to focus the content on particular parts which help reinforce the poem's meaning (since this has been discussed I'll move onto something else).
The tone is melancholy/reflective based on the diction used and the speed of the poem (it is generally slow). The speaker is in deep thought of the view and it seems he is contemplating the end of his life (or something along these lines).
I found Hari’s and Camden’s posts about the meter of the poem to be particularly informative, as it (the meter) was something that I didn’t quite pay attention to during my first few initial readings. Since they did a thorough job of deciphering and working out the rhythm and meter, I won’t focus on that during this post, but on sound.
Yeats’ poem, “The Wild Swans at Coole”, is a monologue of the speaker’s feelings toward the rapid and transient passing of time. The speaker stands within the Coole Park during a beautiful autumn twilight, observing the drift of the swans upon the lake. He compares the relative stillness of the swans gliding upon the water surface to that of a time (nineteen autumns ago) when they would “…suddenly mount/and scatter wheeling in great broken rings…passion or conquest…[attending] upon them still” (10,11,23,24). He paints a portrait of wild, fierce, and free flock of swans. One of the most prominent uses of sounds is the constant repetition of “w” sounds. It’s evident even in the title of the poem, where the use of “w” sounds within “wild” and “swans” create a contrasting effect. The “w” within swans is soft and soothing, a feeling enhanced by the melodious “s” sounds. Yet, the “w” sound within “wild” can hardly be described as having the same effect. The addition of the relatively harsh “d” at the end of the word transforms a seemingly soft and delicate sound into one that is rougher. Yet, the rough “d” is nothing compared to the harsh “k” sound of “Coole”. Attention and emphasis is immediately drawn upon “Coole”.
Besides the title, those “w” sounds persist throughout the poem. For example, they can be seen in “the woodland paths are dry/under the October twilight the water” (2-3). Such an emphasis on the semivowel “w” is most appropriate because such a sound can be soft, gentle, and soothing as well as wild and spontaneous. They invoke images of rippling water or the sky, both elements in which swans inhabit.
Other alliteration/assonance/consonance:
Assonance: long o in “upon” and “among” (5)
Alliteration: “bell-beat” (17); “cold companionable streams or climb the air” (20,21); “wander where they will” (23)
Krista: I noticed the incongruity with the rhyme scheme also. "Stones" and "swans" definitely do not rhyme; I don't think they're even slant rhymes. Another incongruity I found with the rhyme scheme lies with "beautiful" and "pool" in the last stanza. Within the previous stanzas, the last word of the second and fourth lines always rhymed or were close slant rhymes, but "beautiful" and "pool" do not sound a like at all. Attention is definitely drawn to these incongruities, but to what purpose except emphasis I do not know.
Everyone before me seems to be really good at spotting meter. Hari especially; you got those poems in the packet marked up pretty fast. I can't "hear" it. Can't put the unstressed and stressed marks, nor hear the actually difference if someone were to say the word several different ways most of the time (unless it's really dramatic and/or obvious). Even with everyone's help it's kind of this unsure territory for me.
The words with three syllables are an obvious shift from the other words (two and one typically). Because the three syllable words are so much longer to say, it creates a small break in the rhythm of the poem. "Clamorous" in line 12, "brilliant" in line 13, "unwearied" in line 19, "mysterious, beautiful" in line 26 all have several long vowels. I'm not sure if that means they're technically caesuras or rhetorical pauses.
But I do know that the author's purpose is of reflection. He thinks about how the estate was like when he first started going there and how it is now. The swans symbolize that time is changing, "All's changed since I, hearing at twilight, / The first time on this shore" (lines 15-16). But in more literal aspects, Yeats really likes the swans. And he wrote a poem about them.
With any poem that you read, keep in mind that there will be a prevalent meter, and any variations you find are either put there deliberately by a capable poet or imposed by a lesser craftsman. Poets like Frost, Yeats, Dickenson and the like do not create effects by accident.
Therefore it’s important to look at this poem, written by a middle-aged man 19 years older than the young man who first regarded the swans, with care. It’s basically iambic, with lines of four beats (tetrameter) alternating with lines of three (trimeter). That scheme really bears fruit in the last two lines of stanza 1, when the nine-and-fifty-swans bring the reader’s eyes to complete rest before the poem and its experience resume.
If you get stuck on a sort of rote process of scanning you’ll go out of your mind. Take line 5: “Upon the brimming water among the stones”… Even with all the syllables in that line, the effect is still four big beats: brim-, wat-, am- & stones. The language at the beginning of the line just flows into the four big beats before we stop to gaze with the speaker at the nine-and-fifty.
A switch to two stressed syllables in a row occurs in line ten with All suddenly mount before the sentence runs on to the iambic of the next line: “and scatter wheeling in great broken rings. Even here the line ends with an anapestic foot. Look at the powerful group movement of “all suddenly mount” that resolves into the rhythmic flight of the swans that seem to the speaker to retain all of the youth and vibrant life that he. worn down by failure in love, finds missing in himself.
The rhythm calms down in the final stanza, as the speaker contemplates the silently swimming swans. If you have a hard time finding the three stressed syllables in “Mysterious, beautiful;” – so what? They are subtly inlaid, just as is the message that this beauty is no one’s – not the speaker’s, not ours, not those of the men whose eyes will be delighted when the swans settle down before them, having flown away from us.
Don't feel you have to use all the terminology, either. Point out what what you see and feel, and you may be surprised to see how your observations line up with the technical terms that do so much to make poetry a drag.
In the "Wild Swans at Coole", Yeats rhymes the 2nd and 4th lines of each stanza except for the final stanza. He also rhymes the 5th and 6th lines of each stanza except for the first stanza.
In the third stanza there is alliteration of the "B" sound in "The bell-beat of their wings above my head,". In the last line of the third stanza there is also the alliteration of "T" in "Trod with a lighter tread". In the 4th stanza there is alliteration with the "W" sound. "...wander where they will."
I do not have the terms down pat, so I'm going to go with what I hear and see rather than use silly words like "iambic" or "trochaic" or "spondee".
The first stanza is the most confusing by far. Because the rhythm, it doesn't go with the rest of the poem. Listen, "Upon the brimming water among the stones / Are nine-and-fifty swans." (line 5-6) to "And scatter wheeling in great broken rings / Upon their clamorous wings." (line 11-12) It feels as if the first stanza has an extra bounce in the previous line and not enough in the last line. In the other stanzas, although the bounce is still more in the previous lines, they have an equal amount of bounce as the rest of the stanzas. The effect it has on the poem is that it makes the reader speed up, and then slow down. Not only that, there is a slight pause between the last two lines in each stanza. It's almost like a galloping sound.
That was the only thing that really got my attention from stanza 1, but the rest has pretty much the same rhythm. Similar to what the last two lines of each stanza does, lines 3 and 4 of each stanza almost has the same effect. The only difference is that it has a tendency to stay connected with the rest of the stanza. What I mean is that, when I get to the last two lines, it feels as if it's a completely different poem of it's own. If I took out the last two lines of each stanza and put them together, a poem could be born. I think that's because of the rhyme scheme though. So that's kind of irrelevant with this subject.
What the rhythm of this poem does is that it speeds and slows down the reader. There are pauses which help the reader decide where the focal points are, and the importance of that one spot. It feels as if I can see the swans coming and going, especially coming and going because the take off and landing has the same effects that the rhythm has.
In "Wild Swans at Coole," W.B. Yeats uses different types of rhythm patterns to convey different types of emotions. When the Iambic meter is used the speaker appears to speed up the rhythm while the use of Trochaic meter slows the rhythm of the poem. Also the use of caesuras in between lines has the reader stop and almost create additional lines. These caesuras apply the brakes to make sure the speaker's meaning is accurately conveyed. In the third line, "Under the October twilight the water" the caesura after twilight causes the following words to be almost apart of the next line.
Furthermore, there is an abcbdd pattern that exists throughout most of the poem, changing only when the speaker's tone changes. The sudden change in one rhythm pattern to another has the reader pay more attention to what is being said. Also, hard sounds and soft sounds are used in contrast to portray the speaker's emotions as well. Finally, I agree with Lisa that the swans symbolize that time is changing, "All's changed since I, hearing at twilight, / The first time on this shore." This change is shown through the change in meter near the middle of the poem.
As everyone before me said, the poem contains iambic and trochaic meter (because of having missed class I don’t completely understand these terms, but from what I do understand, I would have to agree). Also, aside from the first paragraph, the poem follows the abcbdd rhyme scheme.
Because I don’t really know any of the terms, I’m just going to say what I hear in the poem. “The Wild Swans at Coole” flows very smoothly from line to line. Even though some lines are much shorter than others, it does not throw off the poem at all. This is because the words used in the shorter lines contain more syllables, making them sound just as long as the other lines.
The rhyme in "The Wild Swans at Coole" runs A/B/C/B/D/D;, the last word being the rhyming one, primarily masculine syllables. The A and C lines reference visual images of twilight, autumn, and generally instances associated with light, except for the last two stanzas which take part in describing the swans themselves instead of their environment. Having these lines not rhyme draws attention to them, placing emphasis upon the situations that the swans are found. The meter used in the poem is iambic, but it does not appear to have any set meter; it's dynamic line by line, stanza by stanza. I noticed that David Kim was kind enough to discern which line had which meter, but I'm assuming that there's something I don't understand here. The meter in the lines, that is designated by how many feet the entire line has, where feet = syllables?
In "The Wild Swans at Coole", the speaker uses many rhythmic devices to craft the feel of the poem. Two elements stuck out to me: the final two lines of each verse, and the rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme allows a flow of both ideas and sound throughout the stanza, and ends the stanza with considerable emphasis on the last line in each stanza. This emphasis is partly because of the unpredictable (well, at least to me) dd rhyme in the end. I expected it to have another c rhyme, i was anticipating it. So, when I read "Are nine and fifty swans" the line stuck out. Also, the jump from pentameter from trimeter provided extra emphasis. The last two lines in each stanza, to me, provide the movement and emotion of the poem. I just like the sound of ending a stanza with the three accented syllables, especially because the whole stanza is the same sentence. The ending provides the reader the opportunity to reflect on the past stanza before moving on. Unlike other endings that segway you into the next stanza, this allows for some retrospection before moving on, a wonderful trait.
In "The Wild Swans at Coole," Yeats seems to be writing in a trochaic and iambic form of verse. The two types of meter are utilized by Yeats in order to differentiate the rhythm of the poem. The iambic meter gives a more fast paced rhythm while the trochaic meter slows the rhythm to create a greater focus on what Yeats has to say. Throughout the poem, Yeats intertwined both forms of meter that was confusing to me in that it was hard to discern how many feet were in each iamb or trochee.
While reading this poem, I also came to agree that the caesuras between each line assists the rhythm of the poem to be much more fluid. The pause gives time for the reader to catch a break and sink in what Yeats is trying to convey to the reader.
As everyone may or may not have noticed, I skipped several blogs. Well, here I am, coming back to score some delicious partial credit. Not that anyone will actually read this, but, whatever. Everyone talks to themselves from time to time, right?
The first thing I noticed about this poem is that I tended to focus on the first two lines in each stanza for their sing-song feel, as well as lines where enjambment was used. That musical quality is brought on through the use of iambic feet, and the enjambment creates an "umph" sort of emphasis on the lines where it is used. Back to the iambs for a second though. In the final stanza, the second line is written in dactylic feet, signifying the change in tone. It shifts from speaking of the past to what is happening now.
Post a Comment