What is the meaning of the swansong?

Answer 1

I never really gave this question, "What is meant by a persons swan song?" any serious consideration, but have always been enchanted by a life and soul expressing its highest purpose at the moment of death, be it physical or spiritual. Ones final words, be it from Romeo and Juliet, or more universally, Christ's final prayer as He hung on the Cross, it bridges a great the divide from the temporal to the eternal.

Personally, since experiencing the fatal accident that took the life of young Alex Ervin, age 15, and permanently crippled my oldest son and critically injured his younger brother in June 2007, I have struggled to write a manuscript, much like a swan flying with two broken wings. Actually it was the death of my heart, soul and life as I had known it.

A wise counselor once told me that "living the question" is far more important than finding the answer. This is my swan song. Writing and re-writing and living with the inconsolable grief until the words transcend this mortal grave and are finally enlightened by faith, hope and love.

When you hear someone talk about a persons swan song they are basically referring to their death or last days of life. There is an old myth that says when you hear a swan "singing" it means that it is about to die. It sings a beautiful song just before death (or while it is dying) which is where the term "swan song" came from (obviously the myth is not true because swans "sing" a lot regardless of whether they are dying, but that is where the phrase came about)

Answer 2

oh, it's old folklore that just before a swan is about to die it will sing very beautifully. Today it's used not so much WRT the swan, but in reference to someones last dying effort.