Winter Swans - Owen Sheers

Question 1

1st JUICY QUOTE :
‘‘The clouds had given their all - two days of rain and then a break in which we walked’’

Answer 1

• ‘clouds had given their all’ personification meaning that the clouds are drained and exhausted, mirroring the speaker. (nature is advocating and encouraging couples)
• ‘two days of rain…’ pathetic fallacy symbolising their turbulent relationship
• ‘Which we walked’ alliteration ‘w’ sound imitates question words, and unresolved issues, (questions they still want to ask each other)
• Enjambement (not on one line, it breaks) could structurally symbolise the ongoing rain or perhaps represent the continuous relationship problems

Question 2

’ the waterlogged earth gulping for breath at our feet ‘

Answer 2

• ‘waterlogged earth’ suggests that earth is filled with water, almost in a negative way this couple perhaps feels a bit suffocated within this relationship
• ‘earth gulping for breath’ uses personification, connoting the struggle it is to maintain this relationship (their relationship is coming to an end)

Question 3

’ as we skirted the lake, silent and apart ‘

Answer 3

• strong idea of their separation and conflict in between them
• the couple is ‘skirting’ the lake, which means walking around the edges, as if their ‘skirting’ around each other, aware that they could fall into the water any minute, and that would mean their relationship would drown
• adjectives ‘silent’ and ‘apart’ simply and concisely demonstrate the emotional distance between them (their communication has completely stopped)

Question 4

2nd JUICY QUOTE:
‘‘until the swans came and stopped us with a show of tipping unison. As if rolling weights down their bodies to their heads’’

Answer 4

• ‘until’ conjunction, first indication of a shift, nature has intervened
• ‘us’ inclusive pronoun, suggest that the speaker still sees them as a partnership
• ‘unison’ the swans are targeting the couple, modelling what is required and juxtaposing the separation in their relationship.

Question 4

’ they halved themselves in the dark water, icebergs of white feather, paused before returning again, like boats righting in rough weather ‘

Answer 4

• image of ‘conflict’ and ‘resolution’ or ‘disharmony’ and ‘harmony’ - because the swans half (moving away from each other) and then they reunite
• simile ‘like boats righting in rough weather’ further shows that the struggle was just a ‘rough’ patch, like turbulence, and it was temporary, just like boats can usually put themselves right again and so can the swans and so can this couple
• therefore these swans are almost like a motif for hope and salvation for the couple or at least some inspiration that they can fix their issues.

Question 5

’ they mate for life you said as they left, porcelain over the stilling water ‘

Answer 5

• speakers partner breaks the silence (communication is restored)
• natural longevity of relationships
• subtly implying that, just like the swans, human relationships should be everlasting
• metaphor for describing swans as porcelain - describes how elegant and beautiful the swans are, but it also signifies the fragility, and how fragile relationships are - and how you should invest in them through nurture, care, love and communication

Question 6

’ but as we moved on through the afternoon light, slow stepping in the lake’s shingle and sand ‘

Answer 6

• change in weather, from ‘rain’ to ‘afternoon light’ this brings a little bit of hope
• sibilance with ‘shingle’ and ‘sand’ creating this sought of softness so they are clearly on a path towards resolving their previous tension.

Question 7

3rd JUICY QUOTE:
‘‘I noticed our hands, that had, somehow, swum the distance between us’’

Answer 7

• ‘swum the distance between us’ is a metaphor which symbolises how emotionally and physically closer they are
• ‘I noticed’ suggests that reconciliation wasn’t planned; the swans have simply inspired this in a natural way
• caesura of ‘our hands, that had, somehow,’ indicates hesitation and that one wrong move could end the relationship
• ‘somehow, swum’ has sibilance and creates this peaceful tone and sense of relief they feel

Question 8

’ and folded, one over the other, like a pair of wings settling after flight ‘

Answer 8

• the couple have almost become the mirror image of the swans in their acceptance of one another
• ‘one over the other’ creates this idea of protection, and they don’t need to fly away from each other anymore, because they have truly settled, which foreshadows that this relationship will last and the conflict has resolved.

Question 9

What is the structure of this poem?

Answer 9

• structurally written in 6 irregular 3 line stanzas
• ends with a couplet, so this may emphasise the disharmony and the conflict in the couple at the beginning, however after the moment of reconciliation, in the poem the final stanza is a couplet
• this is symbolic of them coming back together, therefore in this poem conflict is temporary

Question 10

What is the context and the Poets message ?

Answer 10

• Owen sheers is a Welsh poet born in 1974, so ‘winter swans’ is a contemporary poem
• sheers poems mostly feature landscapes and settings to enhance the meaning
• ‘Skirrid hill’ translates as ‘shattered mountains’ and can also be interpreted as ‘divorce’ or ‘separate’ - summing up the key themes in the poem