Coole Park is an historical area of immense literary and cultural importance.  The land belonged to Lady Gregory who was an important figure during the Irish Literary Revival.  Lady Gregory and William Butler Yeats founded the Abbey Theater in Dublin.  Yeats and Gregory were friends and colleagues for over 35 years.  Lady Gregory's Coole Park is mentioned in the titles of three of Yeats' poems, "The Wild Swans at Coole," "Coole Park, 1929," and "Coole Park and Ballylee, 1931."  Lady Gregory's house no longer stands on this land, but it is a gorgeous park which includes Coole Lough and some enchanting wooded areas.

It is in this area of Coole Lough that Yeats wrote the poem "The Wild Swans at Coole."  In his poem, Yeats mentions 59 swans, which is significant because swans mate for life and there should be an even number of swans.  Yeats had a tough time with women, and didn't marry until later in life.  I think this odd swan in his poem may be a reference to himself.  All swans have their mates, except this one...sort of like him.  This same group of swans returned to the lake each year, just as Yeats kept coming back to Coole for over 30 years.  The last line is quite saddening, "...when I awake some day To find they have flown away?"  The group of us sat at the shore of this lake and pondered this poem.  We couldn't help but to think Yeats felt quite a connection to these swans...the poem is as follows:

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?

Another famous literary sight at Coole Park is the giant Autograph Tree.  This is a HUGE copper beech tree that has many famous literary figures' initials etched into the trunk.  The trunk area is fenced off now so it's hard to get a good photo of the initials.  Some of the initials on the tree are those belonging to: Lady Gregory, W.B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, J.M Synge, Jack Yeats etc.  The tree served as a "living guest book," as it is described in the book "Yeats' Ireland," by John Gregory. 

 

The Autograph Tree -  Students examining the autographs -  Close up of J.M. Synge's