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Leda and the Swan
- Context
- Based on the Greek myth of Leda and the Swan.
- The story of Zeus
disguised as a Swan to
rape a girl by the name of
Leda. This led to Leda
giving birth to three eggs.
In which hatched into
Helen of troy,
Clytemnestra, Pollux and Castor..
- Yeats wrote this poem using his own
knowledge of the story and also the
interpretation he comprised from the
painting of Michelangelo.
- The story of Zeus
disguised as a Swan to
rape a girl by the name of
Leda. This led to Leda
giving birth to three eggs.
In which hatched into
Helen of troy,
Clytemnestra, Pollux and Castor..
- written in 1923 and published in 1928
- Yeats at first began the poem as one with meanings
of politics but then said 'but bird and lady took
possession of the scene that all politics went out of it'.
- Based on the Greek myth of Leda and the Swan.
- Structure
- Petrarchan sonnet
- Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efg efg
- Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efg efg
- Petrarchan sonnet
- Links
- Among School Children
- Yeats talks about
Maud having a
'ledean body', thus
referring got how
she is a women of
beauty and also a
cause of
destruction
- Yeats talks about
Maud having a
'ledean body', thus
referring got how
she is a women of
beauty and also a
cause of
destruction
- Among School Children
- The Butterfly Effect
- Violence and destruction
- 'Violence breeds violence in a kind of destructive cycle.'
- 'The broken wall, the burning roof and tower/And Agamemnon dead.'
- 'broken', 'burning' 'dead' all create imagery of destruction
- 'broken', 'burning' 'dead' all create imagery of destruction
- 'The broken wall, the burning roof and tower/And Agamemnon dead.'
- 'Violence breeds violence in a kind of destructive cycle.'
- By impregnating Leda with
Helen, Zeus metaphorically
impregnated her with future
war and destruction.
- Violence and destruction
- Superiority
- use of soft adjectives
against strong words
creates an image of
male superiority and
female inferiority. Leda
vs Zeus. Human power vs
Power of a God.
- Soft adjectives: 'caressed', 'helpless',
'terrified vague', 'nape', 'loosening' and 'laid'.
- Strong words: 'A sudden blow', 'beating',
'staggering', 'rush', 'shudder', 'broken', 'burning'
and 'brute'.
- Soft adjectives: 'caressed', 'helpless',
'terrified vague', 'nape', 'loosening' and 'laid'.
- use of soft adjectives
against strong words
creates an image of
male superiority and
female inferiority. Leda
vs Zeus. Human power vs
Power of a God.
- Questions Raised
- Did Leda know that the swan was Zeus in disguise?
- Is humanity limited in its understanding of pain and suffering?
- Did Leda know that the swan was Zeus in disguise?
- Innocence
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