Winter Swans

Question 1

Who’s the poet and what’s the context

Answer 1

Owen sheers

Who often writes about landscapes which explores his identity and relationships

Question 2

What other poems can you compare it to

Answer 2

Loves philosophy- uses natural imagery to express love
Sonnet 29- distance (physical and emotional)
Singh song! - fulufulling relationships
Letters from Yorkshire- nature

Question 3

What is natural imagery used for and give examples

Answer 3

Reflects their struggling and improving relationship
Through personification of weather ‘clouds had given their all’

‘Icebergs’ have lost hidden under surface so could be a metaphor suggesting the couple keep things hidden

Question 4

What do the swans suggest

Answer 4

They are a metaphor for their relationship and they show natural love
The swans influence them and they hold hands naturally which they don’t notice

Question 5

What does this line Portray

‘Distance between us’

Answer 5

Hands have crossed a physical distance but also a metaphorical distance
They have come closer together emotionally

Question 6

What does the form show

Answer 6

Uneven lines and lack of rhythm makes a feeling of disjointedness and reflect a troubled nature

Question 7

What does the final stanza show through the form

Answer 7

There is a rhyming couplets which show how the couple have reunited and come more couple like

Question 8

Where is the turning point in the poem

Answer 8

The swans in stanza 3

They are inspiring and are in contrast to earlier descriptions of nature being a place of suffering

Question 9

What quotes in the final stanza show how they have reunited

Answer 9

‘Pair of wings’ compare their hands to the swans
‘ settling after flight’
‘Mate for life’ hints their relationship is permanent

Question 10

What themes are in the poem

Answer 10

Fulfilment
Distance
Nature

Question 11

How is fulfilment portrayed

Answer 11

They over come their difficulties and are mirrioring the swans and ‘mate for life’ they can survive difficulties

Question 12

How does the environment reflect their relationship

Give quotes

Answer 12

‘Clouds given their all’
‘2 days of rain’
Shows how they’ve had many arguments and reflects their relationship is troubled

Question 13

How does nature effect their relationship

Answer 13

Nature positively influences them and they follow the sense examples