The theme of 'The Wild Swans at Coole' is the passage of time.In the past, the poet could count all the Swans before they all flew away. At that time, he was much younger and passionate.At present, 19 years have passed after he last saw the swans, he can count there is 'nine and fifty' swans, the number of swans has been decreasing, though they are still 'beautiful' and 'mysterious'. It seems that they are not affected by time. But the poet's 'heart is sore', he becomes less passionate and becomes old day after day.Then the poet thinks whether the swans w ...view middle of the document...
However, the deviation of rhyme scheme in last stanza was clearly showing us that the life isn't as beautified as the swans are showing, because the poet felt he was becoming older and older and the deviation meant his life was going to the end, his life was no longer fruitful and was full of flaws, such as unhappiness.The use of imagery, especially 'numbers' was significant in showing how passage of time has affected the feelings of the poet. Such as 'nine-and-fifty', 'nineteenth', 'first', these numbers were odd, indicating that the poet felt alone throughout the nineteen years and since the numbers were decreasing, 59 to 19 to 1, it showed the decaying passion and conquest the poet was having. This further enhanced the 'sore' feelings the poet had when he saw the paired up swans in the lake.Throughout the poem, the poet conveyed his feelings on life changing by contrasting the mysterious, beautiful and unwearied life the swans had with his decaying, unfruitful and sore life. Furthermore, besides having reflection on his own life, he was counting how much life he had left and he longed for a happier life, though he concluded that he wouldn't have any at last, because he guessed that someday when he woke up, all swans would fly away and left a deserted lake.
