Swan and Shadow

This lyrical 35-line poem is observational and philosophical in tone. The poem is a calligram, the visual layout of which mirrors its subject. Thematically, the poem is divided into two halves: The first is about the wonder associated with the appearance of the swan, and the second is melancholy in tone, expressing regret that neither the swimming swan nor its reflection in the moment can be captured. In this sense, the swan and its reflection are a metaphor for life and joy. Every moment is evanescent, and perhaps beauty and happiness can only be experienced, never caught or retained. Another interpretation is that the poem is itself an attempt to capture the moment of poetic inspiration: the arrival of the swan. The poet understands that his words cannot recreate the actual swan, even though the poem’s layout makes that attempt.

“Swan and Shadow” is an experimental poem, in that it plays with the form of poetry. Line and word spacing are important to retain the structure of the swan. Additionally, the poet does not use punctuation and instead creates breaks through empty space and capitalization. The first half of the poem demonstrates a call-and-response technique, with the speaker posing and then answering a question. The first line, replicating the crown of the swan’s head, contains the single word “Dusk” (Line 1). The flies over the water and the late, melancholy hour create an atmosphere that is “O so / gray” (Lines 7-8). Having established the setting, the speaker introduces a sense of tension and anticipation with the question “then / What” (Lines 9-10); something is about to happen. A “pale signal” (Line 10) appears, which is the swan making an entrance onto nature’s stage.

Next, the speaker questions “[w]hen” (Line 11) the swan will appear; the answer is that the swan will appear in the moment before its reflection disappears. The tension between appearance and disappearance establishes that the swan will glide past the speaker’s view. Its presence and beauty is momentary, almost magical. As to the whereabouts of the swan, it will be reflected in two pools: the lake in which it swims and “[h]ere in this pool of opened eye” (Line 12), or, the swan’s reflection in the speaker’s eye. It also refers to the biological process of how sight forms an image of the object it beholds. What the mind processes is not the object itself but its image as formed by the lens of the eye. Introducing the idea of images adds to the mystery and distance around the swan. No matter how much the mind and the eye wish to consume it, the swan—the object of beauty—is always elusive.

The poem often switches tense into the future, such as “[a] pale signal will appear” (Line 10), and later into the future perfect, such as “Yet by then a swan will have / gone” (Lines 25-26). These switches create poetic tension, and perhaps also signify that every future moment too will become past. This reflects the poem’s themes of the impermanence of life and the inevitability of change.

In Line 18, the speaker equates the swan with the present moment. Just like the swan, “this hour” (Line 18) too will fade and the “perfect sad instant now” (Line 18) will disappear almost as soon as it appears. The water will not hold the image of the swan and neither will the eye. The mind will try to retain it as a memory, and the poet will try to recreate it in words. However, none of these images, these “memorial shades” (Line 22), will be the swan itself. The physical swan and its image reflected in the eye will disappear into a “vast / pale / hush / of a / place / past” (Lines 27-32), that is, into the future (for the physical swan) and the past (for its image).

Without the swan, the landscape will return to its mundane rhythm, now dark as the moment when a “swan / sang” (Lines 34-35). The last two lines refer to the phrase “swan song” which means the last achievement in someone’s career, or a final act. The phrase is based on the myth that a swan sings its most beautiful song moments before its death. The speaker introduces this phrase to signal the end of the poem and the sadness that accompanies the departure of the song. The poem is suffused with the loss of the swan and the inadequacy of the senses to capture it, though it captures beauty in its description of loss and grief.