Poetry Bookclub: Yeats's The Wild Swans at Coole

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Originally Posted by JBI

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NOW that we’re almost settled in our house
I’ll name the friends that cannot sup with us
Beside a fire of turf in the ancient tower,
And having talked to some late hour
Climb up the narrow winding stair to bed: 5
Discoverers of forgotten truth
Or mere companions of my youth,
All, all are in my thoughts to-night, being dead.

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The persona, I of the poem, can be identified with the poet himself with lots of biographical references. It is an elegy written on his dear friends sudden death, Robert Gregory as Dark Muse Mentioned in January 1918 and it is written at the same time. It is interesting that Coole Park belongs to Lady Gregory which is the setting for the previous poem we discussed.

This "we" is Yeats and his wife who recently moved into a new house in "Thoor Ballylee, an old Norman tower not far from the Gregory estate". It has a melancholic and elegiac tone remembering all those friends of Yeats who are not alive now.

About the time, there is an emphasis on the present time (Now, Tonight) in comparison to all the friends lived in the past and even the ancient tower. It seems to me all belong to the past except the poet himself. (I have not refer to the next stanzas, up to now maybe I change the attitude)

The pattern is aabbcddc (it is interesting that I searched this pattern in Google and most of the results belong to Yeats' poems, does anyone know if there is any significance in this rhyming pattern?)


I tried to find the meter in the first stanza but I got confused and got nowhere. It is interesting that up to line five there are only a few words with more than one syllables and mostly not stressed. Choosing simple words in this form does signify the elegiac and melancholic tone of the poem? Moreover, when he wants to refer to those dead friends, suddenly the words have more than two syllables like "discoverers, forgotten, companion."

Can anyone help in finding the exact meter of this stanza?

I believe it is a variant on iambic pentametre with the second and third last line in tetramter to add emphasis.

Hmm, since no body is posting anymore... does someone want to take another poem from the bunch?

To JBI and all, sorry to be so absent of late; I do have a comment on the second poem. This evening. q1

Not yet, please wait.

I'm ready for the next poem. Sorry I couldn't post over the weekend. I was away and wasn't able to get to a computer.

I changed my mind, as quasimodo1 post the comment i prefer to start the third poem.

"I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death." For some days now, pondering these first three poems, no comment seemed really relevant. Probably just because these poems are just so accessable and uncomplicated. Let me take exception to Quark's comment as quoted above and insist Yeats still had the ability to create more complex forms but I don't think he wanted that in this writing. The forseen death seems to have taken on almost a serene quality, i.e. complete and non-stressed acceptance. These poems are much more enjoyable than I remembered from the first reading (back in the day).

When will we go to the next poem?

Anytime you want, Sofia.

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Originally Posted by quasimodo1

Anytime you want, Sofia.

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But what about the rest! JBI should post the new poem or ...?

Sorry, JBI will decide about moving on.

W.B. Yeats (1865–1939). The Wild Swans at Coole. 1919.

4. Men improve with the Years



I AM worn out with dreams;
A weather-worn, marble triton
Among the streams;
And all day long I look
Upon this lady’s beauty
As though I had found in book
A pictured beauty,
Pleased to have filled the eyes
Or the discerning ears,
Delighted to be but wise,
For men improve with the years;
And yet and yet
Is this my dream, or the truth?
O would that we had met
When I had my burning youth;
But I grow old among dreams,
A weather-worn, marble triton
Among the streams.

I am starting to notice a theme here.

I love the language and imagery of this poem.

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I AM worn out with dreams;
A weather-worn, marble triton

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I loved these first lines, they really set the tone of the poem.

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Upon this lady’s beauty
As though I had found in book
A pictured beauty,

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I loved these words

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Or the discerning ears,

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Considering the above imagry used, I found this reference to be a bit currious

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But I grow old among dreams,
A weather-worn, marble triton

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I really like the way the last lines were slightly altered for the ending, but I was currious about the refernce to the "streams" and the meaning of that image.

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Originally Posted by quasimodo1

W.B. Yeats (1865–1939). The Wild Swans at Coole. 1919.

4. Men improve with the Years

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You forgot the third one, An Irish Airman foresees his Death ?