Themes
Partnership is a key theme of ‘Winter Swans’
A number of unifying ideas or Central, unifying idea(s) that run through a text. run through the poem. Different readers may attach more or less significance to each of these themes, depending upon how they view the poem.
| Theme | Evidence | Analysis |
| Partnership: in this poem we are presented with a couple who seem to have had an argument. By the end of the poem they are reconciled, and it seems that their partnership is one that can ride out difficulties. | ‘I noticed our hands, that had, somehow,/ swum the distance between us’ | By describing the hands as having 'swum' the distance between them, this makes a connection between the couple and the swans, suggesting they too have made a connection for life. |
| Conflict: at the start of the poem there is a sense that the couple have been arguing, or had a difficult situation to deal with. | 'we skirted the lake, silent and apart' | 'Skirted' suggests avoidance. The lake works on a literal level (they are walking around the edges of it) and also a metaphor (for the issue they are avoiding). |
| Love: the poet's companion draws a comparison between the swans and the people by noting that the birds 'mate for life'. | ''They mate for life' you said as they left,' | The direct speech breaks the silence between the couple and reminds them that they are meant to be together. |
| Theme | Partnership: in this poem we are presented with a couple who seem to have had an argument. By the end of the poem they are reconciled, and it seems that their partnership is one that can ride out difficulties. |
|---|---|
| Evidence | ‘I noticed our hands, that had, somehow,/ swum the distance between us’ |
| Analysis | By describing the hands as having 'swum' the distance between them, this makes a connection between the couple and the swans, suggesting they too have made a connection for life. |
| Theme | Conflict: at the start of the poem there is a sense that the couple have been arguing, or had a difficult situation to deal with. |
|---|---|
| Evidence | 'we skirted the lake, silent and apart' |
| Analysis | 'Skirted' suggests avoidance. The lake works on a literal level (they are walking around the edges of it) and also a metaphor (for the issue they are avoiding). |
| Theme | Love: the poet's companion draws a comparison between the swans and the people by noting that the birds 'mate for life'. |
|---|---|
| Evidence | ''They mate for life' you said as they left,' |
| Analysis | The direct speech breaks the silence between the couple and reminds them that they are meant to be together. |
Question
How does Owen Sheers show that the couple are reconciled by the end of the poem?
- They hold hands, and their hands are compared to the swans’ wings, folding over each other.
- Their walk becomes easier as they moved from ‘waterlogged earth’ to ‘slow-stepping in the lake's shingle and sand’. This suggests that they have moved to slightly more solid ground in their relationship too.
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