Leda and the Swan Poetic Analysis

A detailed Summary of Leda and the Swan Poetic Analysis

William Butler Yeats' poem "Leda and the Swan" is a hauntingly beautiful recreation of the Greek myth in which Zeus takes the form of a swan in order to seduce Leda, who, as a result of this brutality becomes the mother of Helen of Troy-the woman who is credited with starting the Trojan War. Yeats' choice of employing the sonnet format (sometimes associated with romantic thoughts) in order to retell this story, along with other poetic techniques, allows the poem to go beyond the familiar story which has been told and retold many times.

Within the realm of the storyline, this poem captures the moment during which Zeus, disguised as a swan, overwhelms and attacks a helpless young woman. During the first four lines of the poem, the speaker wastes no time in situating the reader as to what is occurring:

A sudden blow: the great wings beating still

Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed

By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,

He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.

First of all, swans are not often associated with being birds of violence. One might envision a vulture attacking someone, but swans are thoug

Starting the poem with this instance of violence as Yeats chooses to, brings the reader immediately in on a moment of supreme horror. Throughout the poem, the compact nature of the lines, all in iambic pentameter, along with their rhyming endings, further escalate the fever pitch of the moment by swiftly moving along the reader. The ringing assonance of end words "still" and "bill", "caressed" and "breast" all work to keep the reader riveted as to what is occurring here in the beginning.

In typical Shakespearean Sonnet format, the last two lines of the poem form a resolution of sorts. Here, the speaker is questioning what exactly, if anything, that Leda took from this attack. In a way, this leaves Leda with the upper hand. "Did she put on his knowledge with his power/Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?" This statement questions what Leda might have gained from the attack. As a woman unable to fend off the overpowering nature of this attack, Leda had no say in the matter of this brutal rape. Yet the speaker seems to be questioning whether or not Leda left this scene a changed woman-perhaps even empowered? Again, one ha

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Approximate Word count = 767
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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