Winter Swans; Owen Sheers
• images of natur
• tercets ( 3 line stanzas ) —> suggests incompletenes
• pathetic fallacy
• enjambement —> shows elegan
• compares well to Sonnet 29 & neutral tone
• Sheers grew up in South Wales, therefore understanding why most of his poetry about natural worl
• not a Romantic poet —> but he repurposes typical Romantic tropes / images, OR he is in dialogue
with Romantic Poetry OR he is clearly in uenced by their obsession with the natural worl
• about a couple walking around a lake, not talking to each other, their relationship clearly troubled,
then they stop & look at swans, this alters their mood, the poem then ends with the couple appearing
to reconcile—> similar to neutral tone
QUOTE EXPLANATION
“Swans” are mates for life, swans have long been associated
with romantic attachment & bonding
“The clouds had given their all-“ - pathetic fallac
- literal level = image referencing how couples have
expelled all of their rai
- re ects how couple emotionally exhausted & how
their relationship is coming to an en
- they have said all they can to each other, they are
emotionally drained, as clouds have no more rain =
exhauste
- personi cation, the clouds are imbued with an
agency they do not hav
- “-“ typographically mimics how couple have grown
apart
“break” - lineation, connotes seperatio
- enjambment emphasis pause in weather & perhaps
in their arguing too
“the waterlogged earth / gulping for breath” - personi cation of earth
- pathetic fallac
- vivid image speaks of how couples relationship
dying, just as earth is drowning & desperately
struggling to breath & drowning so too is the
speaker’s relationshi
- di erent to image in rst stanza of couple having
‘given their all’ here the earth sees to be struggling &
su ocating re ecting how their relationship may be
su ocatio
- OR lexical choice of verb “gulping” gives ideas of not
giving up, resilience suggesting there is still hope for
the couples relationship, they are willing to struggle
& ght for their relationship —> could also be
struggling to nd word
- although image overall still a negativ
- slight tonal shift / slight possibility of reconciliation
ffflfi
fid
n
fifly
e
p
fin
s
e
n
t
d
e
s
fls
s
d
d
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller abbydolbear02. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $7.09. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.