OWEN SHEERS

Winter Swans

Starter

Write a list of all the things you associate with swans.

Compare and share your list with a partner. Split your list into two categories (physical and abstract).

Read the poem.

Which items on your list are reflected in the poem?

First Impressions

Without looking back at the text, write four things about the swans in the poem.

What do you think the birds symbolise for Sheers? Love/affection/togetherness/long-lasting relationships or something else?

The Details

This poem is only four sentences long.

Though, apart from the third, the sentences are complex.

The number of sub-clauses and phrases means that reading them can be difficult. The last sentence stretches from line 14 to 20.

Where is the main clause of the last sentence?

There is a lot of action in that main clause/s. He noticed, hands swum, hands folded as well as a non-action: did not reply.

If we include the rest of the sentence, we have ‘moved’, ‘slow-stepping’, and, ‘settling’. That’s a lot going on in a short space.

Look back at the first two sentences and see if there is as much happening in those.

What appears to be a very peaceful little description, a snapshot of a romantic moment, has been created through a lot of hard work. Under the surface, those sentences are paddling hard.

Progress Check

What have you learned so far?

What I know What I wonder...

This is a poem about two people walking by a lake after heavy rain.

Have they had an argument or are they just in their own worlds?

The poem does not rhyme or have a particular pattern.

The swans symbolise...

Student Response

‘Icebergs of white feather’ is effective because icebergs are also seen on cold water and their colour will be similar. Perhaps also there is a lot of the iceberg beneath the water and we know that the swans’ legs and feet will be paddling under the water, unseen. Also, icebergs seem peaceful but are in fact dangerous as swans can be.

Independent Learning

How do we know the swans are so important to the poet in recollecting the experience of walking by the lake?