Question

Which type of symbol does this poem by William Butler Yeats use?

The Wild Swans at Coole

… Upon the brimming water among the stones are nine-and-fifty swans

The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count:
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings …
But now they drift on the still water.
Mysterious, beautiful:
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?



A. person


B. object


C. animal

Answer 1

the answer is C is talking about something flying

Answer 2

C. animal

Yeats, in this poem, uses an animal (swans) to represent the way time passes and changes, and the natural beauty of that cycle. He sees the swans year after year but knows that one day, even the swans will disappear from the lake.