《柯尔的野天鹅》，是叶芝在1919年在柯尔庄园渡假期间写成的。
柯尔庄园是格雷戈里夫人拥有的位于基尔威郡的乡间住宅，多年来叶芝一直在那里消暑渡假。格雷戈里夫人是一个殖民地总督的遗孀，热情的资助叶芝倡导的爱尔兰文艺复兴事业，两人彼此尊重。格雷戈里夫人是叶芝一生中四个重要的女性中的第二位，她甘做叶芝的听众和支持者，在需要的时候，他可以随时到柯尔庄园去疗养。
《柯尔的野天鹅》一诗的灵感源自，十九年间叶芝望着柯尔湖面的天鹅在水中嬉戏，在空中翱翔，时而隐没，时而浮出。它们如此神秘而又如此美丽，叶芝喜欢用天鹅来象征人的灵魂层面。
这首诗同时描述了生活的悲喜两面：一方面哀叹逝去的岁月，一方面是对充满生气的青春岁月的赞美。
而第一次世界大战带来的动荡和灾难在诗中也有反映，broken ring象征着过去的世界已经破碎，再难复原。不可逆转的变化，带走了十九世纪的黄金岁月，未来会怎样呢，诗人没有给出答案。
而在《第二次圣临》一诗里，叶芝给我们描绘了一个可怕的未来，新的“两千年”的轮回即将到来，一个巨大的恶魔正缓缓走向伯利恒去投胎，灾难即将来临......

The Wild Swans At Coole
by: William Butler Yeats
THE trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty Swans.
The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.
I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All's changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.
Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.
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?

答案：叶芝 爱尔兰当你老了 在学童中间