Student Essay on Yeats' Leda and the Swan

Yeats' Leda and the Swan

Summary:   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.

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. It is saying Leda is taken by surprise. He has taken over her, caressing her thighs. By using the words " dark webs"(3) the speaker is suggesting that Leda cannot see the webs (the rapist) because it is dark and that she has been captured. Darkness suggests night time. He has her by the nape (back of neck). "He holds her helpless breast upon his breast" (4) suggests that the rapist is on top of Leda holding her so she can't move or fight back. Yeats uses alliteration to help bring the tension to the poem.

In the second stanza, the speaker is describing the forceful intercourse. Lines five and six: "How can those terrified vague fingers push, The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?" suggests that he is forcefully thrusting his "finger" (5) into her and she is giving in because she knows she can't fight back. She can't wait for it to be over with but in the same aspect she can't help but feel the rapists compassion for her. The author also uses the metaphor "And how can body, laid in that white rush" (7)to describe the man's assault. Leda feels like she is not herself anymore according to line 8: "But feel the strange heart beating where it lies."

After foreplay and intercourse, we come to the third stanza which is climax. "A shudder in the loins engenders there, The broken wall the burning roof and tower" (9,10) suggests that the rapist orgasms and ejaculates into Leda, impregnating her, yet he is burning with passion during his climax. The word "brute" could be taken literally as "having no feelings," but that would make the word "blood" enigmatic. "Brute blood" is closer to "anger" or to a passion without consciousness and still supports the apparent violence of the lines. Leda and the Swan would be the expression of a dream, an unfulfilled sexual fantasy of Yeats. In psychological terms it is not impossible to relate the forceful intercourse with blaming the woman for the effects (pregnancy) and with a feeling of guilt (the brute blood). "Did she put on his knowledge with his power before the indifferent beak could let her drop?" is saying if she doesn't give into his power he will destroy her life.

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. It is saying Leda is taken by surprise. He has taken over her, caressing her thighs. By using the words " dark webs"(3) the speaker is suggesting that Leda cannot see the webs (the rapist) because it is dark and that she has been captured. Darkness suggests night time. He has her by the nape (back of neck). "He holds her helpless breast upon his breast" (4) suggests that the rapist is on top of Leda holding her so she can't move or fight back. Yeats uses alliteration to help bring the tension to the poem.

In the second stanza, the speaker is describing the forceful intercourse. Lines five and six: "How can those terrified vague fingers push, The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?" suggests that he is forcefully thrusting his "finger" (5) into her and she is giving in because she knows she can't fight back. She can't wait for it to be over with but in the same aspect she can't help but feel the rapists compassion for her. The author also uses the metaphor "And how can body, laid in that white rush" (7)to describe the man's assault. Leda feels like she is not herself anymore according to line 8: "But feel the strange heart beating where it lies."

After foreplay and intercourse, we come to the third stanza which is climax. "A shudder in the loins engenders there, The broken wall the burning roof and tower" (9,10) suggests that the rapist orgasms and ejaculates into Leda, impregnating her, yet he is burning with passion during his climax. The word "brute" could be taken literally as "having no feelings," but that would make the word "blood" enigmatic. "Brute blood" is closer to "anger" or to a passion without consciousness and still supports the apparent violence of the lines. Leda and the Swan would be the expression of a dream, an unfulfilled sexual fantasy of Yeats. In psychological terms it is not impossible to relate the forceful intercourse with blaming the woman for the effects (pregnancy) and with a feeling of guilt (the brute blood). "Did she put on his knowledge with his power before the indifferent beak could let her drop?" is saying if she doesn't give into his power he will destroy her life.

The way that Yeats writes this poem could mean that he is writing about his own sexual power and tragedy. He seems to use swans a lot in his poems. In my opinion swans are very beautiful on the outside but very mean and aggressive, as is the rapist in this poem. Yeats wrote this poem from a story in Greek mythology. It is about Zeus, a powerful god, and Leda, a Spartan princess. He never uses Zeus' name but symbolizes him with a swan. Other words or phrases symbolizing Zeus are "great wings beating", "by the dark webs", and "brute blood." When the speaker says "And Agamemnon dead" he is referring to Leda's daughter, Clytemnestra, who kills her husband, Agamemnon, after she was unfaithful to him. Leda and Zeus had another daughter, Helen of Troy, for whom the Trojan war was fought. So when you read the lines "A shudder in the loins engenders there, The broken wall, the burning roof and tower, And Agamemnon dead" you realize that this from the Trojan war when they broke the wall and lit the tower on fire and killed Agamemnon. This a very powerful poem. Yeats did very well using alliteration through out the poem to bring a lot of intensity. I interpreted the poem one way, but if you research it more then you find it is more than what you think.