Themes
English Lit: AQA GCSE Poetry - Love & Relationships, topic 13.1.2
Nature in Winter Swans
Sheers uses images from the natural world throughout the poem as a way of representing the couple's relationship.
Pathetic fallacy
- The opening of the poem uses pathetic fallacy as Sheers sets a scene in which there had been a storm and 'rain for two days'.
- This may reflect the negative state of the couple’s relationship before this walk.
Setting
- The setting of the lake and their winter walk are both used as sources of similes and metaphor for their relationship.
- They ‘skirt’ the lake, like they avoid the problems in their relationships.
- The swans are ‘like boats righting in rough weather’, which hints at the coming reconciliation (making up) of the couple’s relationship.
Reconciliation in Winter Swans
One of the key themes of Winter Swans is the gradual reconciliation of the estranged lovers over the course of the poem.
Collective pronouns
- The poem largely uses collective pronouns throughout. For example:
- 'we walked'.
- 'the swans came and stopped us'
- This shows that, although the couple are estranged, they are still connected and together - this is merely a blip in their relationship.
Turning point
- There is only one moment of direct speech when one of the pair states: ‘They mate for life’.
- This acts as a turning point in the poem, as the couple realise that they still care for each other. Watching the unity of the swans has helped to reunite them.
Reconciled?
- The pair are ‘silent and apart’ at the beginning.
- But by the end, their hands have ‘swum the distance between [them]’ without them even realising it.
Test yourself on Themes
Which of these quotes from Winter Swans includes a simile?
What kind of speech marks a turning point in Winter Swans?