Winter Swans Literary Elements

The poem is narrated in the first person from the perspective of someone experiencing emotional distance from a romantic partner.

The poem is written in free verse and is made up of six tercets and a final couplet. It does not have a clearly delineated meter.

Metaphors:
-"they halved themselves in the dark water" (Line 10): this metaphor describes the swans diving their heads beneath the water.
-"porcelain over the stilling water" (Line 14): The swans are compared to porcelain, a fragile yet elegant and hard material.

Simile:
-"like a pair of wings settling after flight" (Line 20): The entwined hands of the couple are compared to swan wings settling into stillness after the movement of flight.

The description of the lovers continuing on their way after watching the swans is the poem’s only use of alliteration: “slow-stepping in the lake's shingle and sand” (Line 16).

N/A

Nature poetry, love poetry

Unidentified area surrounding a small lake during an indefinite time period. Written in past tense.

The tone is one of quiet optimism. The poem takes place in the calm after a storm (representing relational conflict) as a couple navigates a waterlogged landscape. Observing the swans helps them overcome their distance.

Protagonist: The speaker. Antagonist: The recent—unexplained—difficulty which has temporarily caused a rift in the couple's relationship.

The conflict at the heart of the poem is the separation and distance that the metaphorical storm has caused in the couple's relationship.

The climax of the poem occurs after the couple has observed the swans. This is the central point on which the poem's direction rests because it remains to be seen whether the couple will be able to learn from the swans and overcome their differences.

When the speaker's partner observes that swans “mate for life,” it foreshadows the reconciliation just ahead (Line 13).

N/A

The language used to describe the couple walking reveals much about their current state. They are “[skirting] the lake” (Line 6). This alludes to the way in which they are avoiding confrontation.

“The clouds had given their all” in Line 1 is an example of synecdoche, in which clouds represents one part of the whole meteorological system that results in the rainstorm

Opening line: “The clouds had given their all” invests human attributes of sentient motivation to the formation of rain clouds.

The description of the soft footing in the earth following two days of persistent rainfall is a bit overstated: “the waterlogged earth / gulping for breath” (Lines 4-5).

That “gulping” sound made by the feet pressing down onto the soggy soil is an example of onomatopoeia.