Winter Swans

Couple have experienced difficult times in relationship.

Sight of swans is a catalyst to revive and renew their love for each other + at the end couple is reunited.

Enjambment- Line run into each other, shows how their love/bond transcends barriers/troubles, there is a connection between the couple.

Tercets- Shows lack of balance and an unsettling feeling in the relationship, line 1 and 3 represent individuals in the relationship, line 2 is implicitly conveyed as an obstacle or the problem in the relationship, obstacle= disconnection and lack of communication, obstacle temporarily separates the couple.

Couplets- Represent unity, bond and togetherness, the obstacle is gone + couple reunite, the order is restored.

Title- Oxymoron, 'Winter' pathetic fallacy, ominous, coldness + lack of love in the relationship at the beginning. 'Swans'- a symbol for love foreshadows healing of the relationship.

Tension + problematic relationship

• 'clouds' + 'two days of rain' -pathetic fallacy- poor weather suggests stormy + unsettled relationship at this point.

• 'waterlogged earth gulping for breath' personification of earth- 'gulping'  suggests uncertainty/tension/suffocation in relationship passed on to surroundings, 'waterlogged' hard to walk through water and mud suggests the couple's difficulty to move on -static relationship.
  

• 'skirted the lake' - 'skirted' suggests uncertainty + hesitation.

• 'silent + apart' - adjectives reflect lack of communication + separation + distance between them. 

• However, the use of 'we' -inclusive pronoun foreshadows a potential for the relationship to be revived. 

Description of swans- the equilibrium

• 'tipping in unison' - ' unison' - suggests partnership + working together. 

• 'halved themselves' - suggests their togetherness.

• 'icebergs' + 'porcelain'- metaphors to describe swans- 'iceberg' shows sturdy foundation to the relationship because 'icebergs' has great strength, but it shows that there is perhaps more to the problem that is shown and expressed, 'porcelain' suggests the relationship is beautiful and fragile, both imageries show beauty, however one shows beauty and great strength and the other shows beauty and fragility/frailness.

• 'like boats righting in rough weather' - simile- suggests healing + togetherness, 'rough weather' description of their current relationship.

Couple reuniting

• 'They mate for life' - dialogue- communication suggests they're coming together again- contrast to earlier silence.

•  'afternoon light' - light symbol for hope for their relationship.

• 'hands...swum the distance' hands convey the repair of relationship.

• 'like a pair of wings settling' - simile- both uses of lexical field syntax of swans show a parallel between the swans + humans- sight of swans inspired reconciliation of human relationship.

• The penultimate stanza uses sibilance in ‘somehow, swum the distance between us’ and/or 'slow stepping', the soft sound implies an improvement in the relationship. This suggests a softening in the relationship as if their hands are moving through water.

Neutral Tones- both at natural settings but NT relationship remains negative but WS shows positive change emerging in relationship.

When We Two Parted- both look at issues in relationship but WS shows positive relationship emerge. WWTP uses silence but communication appears in WS.

Love's Philosophy- both show isolation + positive view/impact of nature. However, in WS, a positive relationship emerges due to nature.