swans - 2026 ACF Regionals

Question

The speaker reflects that “now my heart is sore” after seeing these “brilliant creatures.” For 10 points each:

[10m] Name these animals, of which the speaker sees “nine-and-fifty” in that poem. In a poem partly titled for these animals, the speaker imagines “The broken wall, the burning roof and tower” engendered by one of these animals.

ANSWER: swans [accept “The Wild Swans at Coole”; accept “Leda and the Swan”; prompt on birds]

[10e] “The Wild Swans at Coole” and “Leda and the Swan” are by this Irish poet who also wrote “The Second Coming” and “Sailing to Byzantium.”

ANSWER: William Butler Yeats

[10h] This poet described a swan “Like a cake / Of soap” who has “abandoned hope” in the poem “The Bereaved Swan.” This poet’s best-known poem opens, “Nobody heard him, the dead man” and claims “I was much too far out all my life.”

ANSWER: Stevie Smith [or Florence Margaret Smith] (The poem is “Not Waving but Drowning.”)

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Summary


Great Lakes	Main Site	Y	5	12.00	100%	20%	0%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	7	11.43	71%	29%	14%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	1	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Midwest	Main Site	Y	9	15.56	100%	22%	33%
Northeast	Main Site	Y	5	14.00	100%	20%	20%
Southeast	Main Site	Y	6	18.33	100%	83%	0%
UK	Main Site	Y	12	16.67	92%	50%	25%
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	6	15.00	83%	50%	17%

Data


Michigan State	CWRU B	10	10	0	20
Ohio State C	Michigan A	0	10	0	10
Ohio State A	Michigan B	0	10	0	10
Michigan C	Ohio State B	0	10	0	10
CWRU A	Pittsburgh	0	10	0	10
James Madison B	Liberty C	0	0	0	0
VCU	Liberty A	0	10	0	10
James Madison A	Liberty B	0	0	0	0
North Carolina C	South Carolina A	0	10	0	10
South Carolina B	Wake Forest	0	10	0	10
Virginia Tech B	Virginia Tech A	10	10	10	30
William and Mary	Virginia	10	10	0	20
NC State A	North Carolina B	0	10	0	10
Illinois A	Chicago A	10	10	10	30
Chicago D	Northwestern B	0	10	0	10
Indiana C	Chicago E	0	10	0	10
Indiana A	Illinois B	10	10	10	30
Notre Dame A	Illinois C	0	10	0	10
Indiana B	Notre Dame B	0	10	0	10
Northwestern C	Northwestern D	0	10	0	10
Chicago C	Purdue A	0	10	0	10
Southern Connecticut State	Bowdoin A	0	10	0	10
Brown	Dartmouth A	0	10	0	10
Dartmouth B	Bowdoin B	0	10	0	10
MIT	Harvard B	10	10	10	30
Brandeis B	Yale	0	10	0	10
Purdue B	Chicago B	0	10	10	20
Kentucky	Sewanee	0	10	0	10
Alabama A	Louisville A	10	10	0	20
Mississipi State	Bruin	10	10	0	20
Louisville B	Tennessee A	10	10	0	20
WashU A	Alabama B	10	10	0	20
WashU B	Tennessee B	10	10	0	20
Bristol	Manchester	10	10	0	20
Cambridge A	Cambridge B	10	10	0	20
Cambridge C	Cardiff	0	10	0	10
City St. George's	Oxford C	0	10	0	10
Oxford A	Edinburgh A	10	10	0	20
Edinburgh B	Imperial B	10	10	0	20
LSE	Southampton A	10	10	10	30
Durham	Montpellier	0	10	0	10
Oxford B	Warwick B	0	10	0	10
Southampton B	Imperial C	0	0	0	0
Warwick A	Imperial A	10	10	10	30
UCL	Birmingham	0	10	10	20
NYU C	Catholic	0	10	0	10
Vassar	John Jay	0	10	0	10
Maryland B	Johns Hopkins B	10	10	0	20
Johns Hopkins A	NYU A	10	10	0	20
NYU B	Maryland A	10	10	0	20
Rutgers A	Georgetown	0	0	10	10