THE WILD SWANS AT COOLE

W.B. Yeats

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 challenged 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?

Word Notes :- 

Coole- the Coole lake. It is situated at Coole park not far from Galway. In 1986 W.B. Yeats visited this place.

Stanza I

★ Autumn beauty- leaflesness or yellow leaves of trees.

★Woodland paths- ways leading to forest.

★Twilight- dim glow of light before setting the sun.

★ Mirrors - reflects

★Brimming water- the water of the lake is full to the brim.

★ Among the stones- among the rocks

Stanza II

★ The nineteen...... Upon me- The poet revisits the lake after an interval of nineteen years.

★ Made my count- counted the swans

★ Before I had well finished- before the poet had finished his counting.

★ Mount- fly up

★ Wheeling - turning in a curve or circle.

★ Great broken rings- large incomplete circles.

★ Clamourous - a loud, shrill sound produced by the flapping of their wings.

Stanza III

★ Brilliant creatures- refers to the swans. The swans are not only beautiful, but also have unfading joy in life and inexhaustable fund of passion.

★ sore- tormented 

★Bell- beat - the loud sound as of bell

★ Trod- past tense of tread

Stanza IV

★ Lover by lover - in pair

★ Paddle- move on shallow water.

★ Companionable- favourable; that offers an opportunity for sport and mating

★ climb the air- fly up in the air

★ Conquest- desire to conquer the heart of their beloved.

★ wander where they will- wherever they may go

Stanza - V

★ Drift- move as if they are carried by the current

★ Mysterious- full of mystery. No one knows whence they come and where they will go.

★ Rushes- reeds, marsh plants.

Summary of The Wild Swans at Coole: 

W.B. Yeats revisits the scene of Coole lake. It is autumn.The trees are bare and leafless.The forest paths are dry. In the twilight the still sky is reflected on the water of the lake which is full to the brim. On the stones of the shores of the lake sit fifty nine swans.

Nineteen years have passed since he first visited the lake. Then the sight of the swans so delighted him that he began to count them. But before he could finish his count the birds flew. 

As he looks upon the beautiful swans today, he does not feel the same joy as he did in the past. Today his mind is afflicted with the sorrows and sufferings that have come upon him. All has changed with him since he first heard the bell-like sound of their fluttering wings at twilight nineteen years ago. He felt so happy at that time that he trod his way homewards with light and quick steps.

With the same unwearied joy the swans go on swimming on the water or flying in the air in pair. Their love or their desire to conquer the heart of their beloved is still in them.

With the approach of winter, the swans will leave this lake and fly to some other region to build their nests by some lake there. They will then delight other people's eyes and the poet will miss them in their old haunts (i.e. Coole lake).

Multiple Choice Questions and Answers:- 

1. Astonishingly Yeats was inspired to write the poem after seeing what at the Coolepark? 

 (A) 100 swans

 (B) 59 swans 

(C) 59 ducks

(D)Near about 59 swans

2. When Yeats says that he used to tread 'with a lighter tread' he is indicating that- 

(A) He wore lighter shoes at one point of his life

 (B) His heart used to be lighter

 (C) He was younger

 (D) He used to skip more than walk

3. When Yeats observes that the swans' hearts have not grown old, he is implying that- 

(A) Lovers' hearts can become indifferent to each other

(B) People should watch out for heart trouble 

(C) The swans are in good health

 (D) The swans are young

4. One theme in Yeats' The Wild Swans at Coole is- 

(A) The preciousness of life

(B) The beauty of the swans

(C) The lack of a bright future 

(D) The importance of nature

5. After the swans fly away in the second stanza of the poem, the poet feels -  

(A) Regret 

(B) Curiosity 

(C) Joy 

(D) Sadness

6. "The nineteen autumn has come upon me / Since I first made my count;" Here the poet means to say that -

(A) Swans He has spent nineteen years to count the

(B) He has seen only 59 swans in nineteen autumn

(C) He had made his first count while visited the Coole Park nineteen years ago

(D) He first saw autumn nineteen years ago

7. "And scatters wheeling in great rings / Upon their clamorous wings" Who scatters in great rings?

(A)The wild swans

(B) The twittering swallows

(C) The bleating lambs

(D)The hedge-crickets

8. "And scatters wheeling in great rings / Upon their clamorous wings" By the phrase clamorous wings the poet means to say-

(A) Sticky wings

(B) Wet wings

(C) Wings producing sounds

(D) Clammy wings

9. '' And now my heart is sore" Why is the poet's heart sore? 

(A) He has lost his near and dear ones 

(B) He could not right good poetry 

(C) He has lost his youth

(D) None of the above

10. The underlying mood of the poet as revealed in The Wild swans at Coolie is- 

(A) Optimistic  

(B) Pessimistic 

(C) Romantic 

(D) Idealistic 

11. "And my heart is sore, all's  changed."- what has changed? 

(A) the natural view of the Coolie Park 

(B) the number of the swans 

(C) the life of the poet 

(D) none of the above 

12. " all's  changed since I, hearing at twilight,/ The first time on this shore" What had the speakers heard? 

(A) the loud sound of the wings of the swans 

(B) the sweet melody of the nightingale 

(C) the optimistic song of the thrush 

(D) the eternal song of the skylark 

13. " The bell-beat of their wings above my head" - Whose wings are spoken here? 

(A) The twittering swallows

(B) The nightingales  

(C) The wild Swan set Coole lake 

(D) None of the above 

14. "The bell-beat of their Wings above my head " The word bell - beat means - 

(A) the loud sound of the bell 

(B) the beating of a bell

(C) the sound of the swans 

(D) none of the above 

15. " They paddle in the cold/ Companionable streams" Who are spoken of here?  

(A) the wild swans  

(B) the paddlers 

(C) friends of the poet 

(D) none of the above 

16. "They paddle in the cold/ Companionable streams" The word companionable means- 

A) With good company 

B) Favourable 

C) Worm 

D) Cold 

17. " Their hearts have not grown old"- The reason of not growing old is - 

A) Agelessness

B) Life force

C) Long life 

D) one of the above

18. " Attend upon them still" what attent upon them still? 

A) The love of the poet

B) The poet himself 

C) Passion and conquest 

D) Mysterious and beautiful 

19. " Mysterious and beautiful" Who is spoken of here? 

A) The poet W.B. Yeats

B) The west wind

C) The wild swans 

D) The darkling thrush

20. " Among the rushes will they build"- What will they build among the rushes? 

A) Their nest

B) Their houses to live in

C) Relationships 

D) Various designs

21. " Among the rushes will they build" The word rushes means- 

A) Speed 

B) Reeds

C) Forest

D) None of the above

Answers

1.B  

2.B  

3.A 

4.A 

5.A 

6. C

7. A

8. C

9. C

10. C

11. B

12. A

13. C 

14. A

15. A

16. B

17. B

18. C

19. C

20. A

21. B

Shashi Deshpande (1938-2016)

> Shashi Despande is an award winning Indian novelist. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award for the novel "That Long Silence" in 1990. 

>She was born in "Karnataka" and known as 'Daughter of Kannada'. >She published her first collection of short stories in 1978 and her first novel "the dark holds no terror "in 1980

 > She was awarded Padma Shri in 2009.

 >Her novel Shadow Play was shortlisted for The Hindu Literary Prize in 2014.

>She has written 4 children books, 9 novels and a number of short stories and essays. >In 2015, she resigned from her position on the Sahitya Akademi General Council and returned her Sahitya Akademi Award.

>She joined the protest against Akademi's perceived inaction and silence on the murder of M. M. Kalburgi.

>Shashi Deshpande denied accepting that she is a feminist writer by saying "I don't like to call myself a feminist writer. I say I am a feminist but I don't write to propagate an ism".

Important works of Deshpande:

1) The Dark Holds No Terror ( 1980) 

2) If I die Today (1982)

3) Come Up and Be Dead (1989)

4) That Long Silence: The Unavoidable Silence of an Indian Woman (1989)

5) Small Remedies (2000)

6) In the Country of Deceit (2008)

7) Roots and Shadows (1973)

Children Books:

1) A Summer Adventure 

2) The Hidden Treasure

 3)  The Only Witness 

4)  The Narayanpur Incident (1995)

 Sri Aurobindo( 1872- 1950)

>Sri Aurobindo (Aurobindo Ghose) was an Indian nationalist, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet.

>He introduced his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution. He was imprisoned by the British for writing articles against British rule in India. 

>His main literary works are "The Life Divine" which deals with theoretical aspects of Integral Yoga Savitri: a Legend and a Symbol an Epic Poem which refers to passage in The Mahabahatra where characters actualize integral yoga in their lives.

>His works also include Philosophy, poetry, translations and commentaries on Vedas, Upnishads and Bhagavad Gita.

>He was nominated for the Noble Prize for literature in 1943 and for Peace Prize in 1950.

> He started a monthly philosophical magazine called “Arya”. 

> Letters on Yoga appeared in 3 volumes.

➤ The American philosopher Ken Wilber has called Aurobindo "India's greatest modern philosopher sage".

Important Works of Aurobindo

1) Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol

It is an epic poem in blank verse based upon the theology of Mahabharata.

2) The Life Divine

3) The Synthesis of Yoga

4) Hymus to the Mystic Fire

> Famous Quote by Sri Aurobindo:

"The voice of poetry comes from a region above us, a plane of our being above and beyond our personal intelligence".

 Ruskin Bond ( 1934-) 

>Ruskin bond is an Indian author of British descent. 

>The Indian Council of Child Education, has recognized his role in the growth of children's literature in India. 

>He got Sahitya Akademi Award in the year 1992, for "Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra", his published works in English. It contains 14 stories.

 >He was awarded Padma Shree Award in the year 1999 and Padma Bhusan in 2014.

>Bond said: "The past is always with us, for it feeds the present".

>Bond's "A Fight of Pigeons" novel set in 1857 about Ruth Labadoor and her family of Hindus and Muslims is adapted into film "Junoon".

Important Works of Ruskin Bond

1) The Room of the Roof (1956)

2) The Blue Umbrella (1974)

3) The Night Train at Deoli and Other Stories (1988)

 4) The Best of Ruskin Bond (2000) 

 5) Our Trees still Grow in Dehra (1991)

 6) Out of Darkness (Lyrical Poem)

 Toru Dutta ( 1856-1877) 

> Toru Dutt was an Indian poet who wrote in English and French.

> She died at a very young age of 21. She was a poet, novelist and translator. She was born in Calcutta.

> She translated some sonnets of de Cramont and regarded him as one of the best modern French poets. 

> She is considered as the "First English writing women of India".

 > Edmund goose wrote about her that "she brought with her from Europe a store of knowledge that would have sufliced to make an English or French girl seemed learned."

Most important Works of Toru Dutt: 

>Our Casurina Tree

>Tree of life

> The Lotus

> Bougmaree

> France

> Amon Pere  :It is praised world-wide and considered "faultless". 

> Le Journel De Medmoiselle d'Arvers (1879)

*This is the first novel in French by an Indian writer.

* It was published poshtumously.

> Bianca, or the Young Spanish Maiden ( 1879) 

* It is the first novel in English by an Indian writer. 

 Important Literary Terms for students of  WBCSSC, NET, SET

Anti-sentimental comedy

This type of comedy basically comes as a kind of protest against the sentimental drama. It discarded the sentimental elements like overdose of pathos, note of seriousness and moral purpose. Instead, such comedies try to produce hearty or often hilarious laughter. Ex. - Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer.

Absurd Drama

Absurd drama is a new invention in the mid 20th century in the field of theatre. This kind of drama is based upon the belief that the human condition is essentially and ineradicably absurd, and that this condition can be adequately represented only in this kind of play. Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Malone Dies, The Unnamable are examples of Absurd drama.

Ambiguity

Ambiguity in literature can be called the language of paradox. It is the assertion of the union of opposites. True poem, like Keats" "Ode on a Grecian Urn", is an amalgamation of varied experiences, widely different from and even opposite to each other. Here ambiguity or paradox synthesizes and reconciles these experiences. Keats in this odc expresses a life which is above life, but it is at the same time a kind of death.

Autobiographical Essay

When in the essay the author will speak out his vital experiences of life, either external or emotional, it will become autobiographical. That means, in such essay the personal or subjective elements must be much more strongly present. Ex: Dream Children: A Reverie by Charles Lamb.

Personal Essay

In this kind of essay the author brings out his personality in much more bolder details than in the formal essays or any other kind. The author assumes a tone of intimacy with the readers, deals with everyday matters in a relaxed, self-revelatory fashion. It is also called familiar essay. By nature it is subjective to a great extent.

 The poet, Emily Dickinson in her poem "Nature" discusses the nature of human being through very easy and lucid language. The poet has used the imagery of nature to describe the human nature. Here the poet details how the rumours start from one person and spread to others.

The sky can't keep the secret with itself. He transfers his secret in the form of rain, thunder, storm etc. The secret is delivered to the hills, then the hills also can't keep it with them. It tells the secret to the orchards and from orchards it transfers to the daffodils. Similarly, if we share some secret to somebody, it must take the form of scandal and spread to a lot of people. 

The poet also says that if one does not intentionally share one's secret to others, it can be overheard by any body and can be spread. Here in the poem, the poet says that the secret of the sky is overheard by a bird, and if somebody bribes it, it may share it without any hesitation. But the poet also assures that she does not want to know those secret of life.

The tone of the poet is quite changed after that. She becomes a little philosophical after that. The poet says that if the secret of life and death is known to all of us, there will be no magic in life. We must enjoy every ups and downs of life, we must be glad to accept every difficult situation of life as it must give us some lesson which smoothens our future path of life. So the poet requests "Father'' i.e. all powerful almighty to keep the secret with Him and not to share it with anybody. The poet is also not interested in knowing the secret which is going on in His "new fashioned world". 

The poet by using simple images like 'nature', 'summer', 'snow' etc conveys a deep message of human psychology. The poet has used the figures of speech like personification, metaphor etc. She has used the rhymes like abcb, defe, ghih, jklk.