Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Form and Meter
A free verse poem
Metaphors and Similes
The simile is in the line, "A shrill dark music – like the rain pelting the trees – like a waterfall." The simile shows that life should be all about unhappiness and discouragement but flow like a waterfall.
Alliteration and Assonance
There is assonance in the line “A perfect commotion of silk and linen” where there is the repetition of the /i/ vowel sound.
Irony
The irony is that people do not realize the beauty of life because they opt to remain stuck when they are supposed to be in motion like a swan.
Genre
Narrative poem
Setting
Set along an unnamed water body.
Tone
The tone is dreadful
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is the speaker and there is no antagonist mentioned.
Major Conflict
There is a conflict between human perception and reality. The Speaker says people think they cannot move on from their present circumstances, but in reality, it is their choice to be stuck.
Climax
The climax comes when the Speaker says organic change is around us, so nobody should feel stuck in whatever he does.
Foreshadowing
The swan's endless motion foreshadows the human ability to see and think differently.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
The line “A shrill dark music – like the rain pelting the trees – like a waterfall” alludes to obstacles that prevent the reader from changing his life.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The swan is personified as a human when the Speaker says she adores her beauty.
Hyperbole
A striking exaggeration is in the line, “Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air.” The poet makes a mountain out of a molehill when she says that air is silvery, because, in reality, it is colorless.
Onomatopoeia
The poet creates sounds in the line “Did you hear it, fluting and whistling.” Fluting and whistling evoke the actual sound associated with the swan.
