William Butler Yeats, probably the twentieth century's greatest poet in English and certainly one of its most complex men, was born in the Dublin suburb of Sandymount on 13 June 1865. He was the eldest of the four surviving children, all brilliant, of a...

William Butler Yeats , probably the twentieth century's greatest poet in English and certainly one of its most complex men, was born in the Dublin suburb of Sandymount on 13 June 1865. He was the eldest of the four surviving children, all brilliant, of a...

Although the reputation of William Butler Yeats rests primarily on his poetry, the drama remained one of the central concerns throughout his long career. As he explained in 1917, "I need a theatre; I believe myself to be a dramatist; I desire to show eve...

Leda col Cigno (Sopra una sculturina dell'Ammannati che si truova al Bargello) (Fa' ch'io sia fecondata cosi in tutte le mie membra in su piu su fin dentro il serpe di treccia d'erinni che mi cinge vittoriosa la testa, fa' che sia festa...

R. M. Rilke and W. B. Yeats are two of the greatest 20th century European poets who wrote about the story of Leda and the swan. The story is about Zeus who was attracted by Leda and assumed the form of a swan and...

Greek mythology and the sexual content in William Butler Yeats's poem, "Leda and the Swan"

In Leda and the Swan, Yeats is describing a rape. The poem is written in the second person which suggests that it is being told by a bystander. The first stanza is describing foreplay. In the first line, "A sudden blow" is used to bring intensity, impact, and tension to the rape.