The Natural World is Black and White
The bulk of this poem is the description of the oppositional but harmonious fusion of the swan as a creature that is both black and white. This heavy emphasis strongly implies a theme at work about the purity of how nature is a black and white world, but one in which opposites are essential to its smoothly efficient operation. The subject matter is devoid of all color, existing only as a enormous bulk of white situated between a black beak and black feet. That black beak is described as “biting the air” and producing “shrill dark music.” The very first line of the poem finds the swan floating atop “the black river.” By contrast, the description of what lies between the beak and the feet of the swan is described as “white blossoms” and “commotion of silk and linen” and most notably, a “white cross” soaring through the sky. Neither is projected in terms of morality; they are simply opposites. Darkness is signified throughout the poem as existing in opposition to—but harmony with—lightness. Oppositional forces co-exist in the natural world, in harmonious fashion as symbolized by the swan’s physical appearance.
Learning from Nature
Nature is often described as being able to teach humans quite a bit about themselves, but this poem tweaks that idea to explore the theme that nature is only capable of teaching lessons when someone wants to learn. Most of the author’s poems deal with the natural world of plants and creatures co-habiting the planet alongside humans. Human may be the masters of all they survey, but even most prosaic acts of nature have the ability to teach a person something if that person is paying close attention stimulated by the desire to be taught. There is absolutely nothing on the surface of the central event of this poem to suggest a life lesson for humans. A swan that has been drifting down a river all night suddenly takes flight. This is something that happens a million times a day each and every day whether a human is there to witness it or not. It only takes on meaning transferable to humans when one is eager to find that element of transference. The speaker wants nature to be a teacher, but also recognizes that most people prefer to learn from the experiences of other humans. And that makes her the teacher of the lesson she learned from nature.
Knowing When to Get Out of the Water
The final questions posed at the end of the poem is the culmination of its understated theme of what the swan taking flight can teach those who want to learn. Obviously, a human being can’t simply flap their wings and immediately rise from cold water and fly to wherever they desire. Metaphorically, however, this act of the swan can be applied to human circumstances. The poem begins with the image of the swan having drifted on the river all night long. There is nothing inherent about this other than it is a portrait of animal instinct. And so is the decision to suddenly get out of the cold water and take off into the sky. The swan’s behavior is nothing but illustrations of animal instinct. The final query posed by the speaker to the reader is “And have you changed your life?” The lesson that speaker learned from witnessing the swan take to the skies---not the lesson it taught, but the lesson she decided to take from it—is that when one is stuck in the cold unpleasant position they have been in while drifting through life, instinct mandates just one thing if this situation is causing discontent. Like the swan, a person must recognize the moment when it is time to take flight and change their circumstance. To do otherwise is unnatural which is a domain solely populated by human beings.
