The Wild Swans At Coole Research Paper

The provocative portrayal of uncertainty in changing times in Yeats’s poetry can primarily be attributed to the experiences of his life. The dichotomy of change and stasis in his poetry is epitomised in the poems Easter 1916 and The Wild Swans at Coole. These poems explore the notions of mutability, immortality and death to accentuate change as an inevitable aspect of life. The extent to which this statement applies to both texts is in regards to their textual integrity. Yeats’s ideas become prevalent through the provocative nature of his poetry to immediately challenge the reader’s initial impressions and utilising time as a vital catalyst for all his ideas and concerns. Yeats has successfully expressed these conceptions through the use of

Yeats has demonstrated this idea in his poem Easter 1916, through his attitude towards John MacBride, who was an Irish revolutionary and ex-husband of Maud Gonne. Yeats portrayed MacBride as a “vainglorious lout”, as he despised him as MacBride “had done the most bitter to some who are near my heart”. This implication typifies Yeats’s attitude towards MacBride with the high modality tone of ‘most bitter’. “He, too, has been changed in his turn” demonstrates that Yeats’s feelings have been mellowed by MacBride’s martyrdom. The inclusion of MacBride without prejudice, through the inclusive language of ‘he, too’, explicitly displays the effects of time to heal and amend an individual’s perceptions and challenge the portrayal of uncertainty in changing times. Likewise, in The Wild Swans at Coole, mutability is also a prevalent notion. “The nineteenth

In Easter 1916, death is apparent as the poem is based on the sacrifices of people for the liberation of Ireland for English control. “When sleep at last has come on limbs that had run wild” indicates the inevitability of death which is bought apparent to every person that lives. ‘Sleep’ is a reference to death and it connotes that an individual cannot escape the reality that is brought upon people. The past tense of ‘had’ suggests that death can also catch people who ‘run wild’. “What is it but nightfall? No, no, not night but death” the uncertainty in the changing times is distinct in this quote with the use of an anaphora. The questioning of the time of day is answered with the true reality being put in front, and death being the final outcome. On the contrary, in The Wild Swans at Coole, the idea of death is not discernible as the poem is about the passing of time and the speaker’s apparent loneliness. However, there are references which oblige the reader to think about death. The first stanza can be associated with death with the poet beginning with “the trees are in their autumn beauty. The woodland paths are dry”. Through the use of ‘autumn beauty’ as a change in time, Yeats uses this as an opportunity to signify ones decline in life. The word ‘dry’ can be associated to something that does not