Read the excerpt.


From “The Wild Swans at Coole” by William Butler Yeats 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?

In “The Wild Swans at Coole,” the speaker says he will “awake some day / To find they have flown away.” What does this flight represent?


a sudden grief

fulfillment in life

the loss of innocence



change and loss