Neil Bowen on
Leda and the Swan
Context:
Published in 1928, so at a point of Yeats’s career where he was no longer so preoccupied with the romantic ‘Celtic Twilight’ style of his former works. However he has not lost his interest in mythology altogether, but instead this is a much more brutal and less idealised version of it. The Greek myth of Leda and the Swan is part of the story of the Trojan wars, since it is this rape of Leda by the God, Zeus, in disguise that leads to the birth of Helen of Troy, over whom the Trojan wars are fought. The Trojan war is often seen to mark the end of the ancient mythological period and the beginning of modern history. Therefore the way that Yeats centres on this story is unsurprising considering his interest in political change and progress and the turbulent events in Ireland around this time, since this one act was supposed to have been such a pivotal moment.Therefore within the account of the rape we also see the foreshadowing of the Trojan war, with the ‘broken wall, burning roof and tower/ And Agamemnon dead’. The poem is also potentially an allegory for the ‘rape’ of Ireland by the invading English.
Themes:
Greek myth used as symbolism for political instability in Ireland. -Violence/ power of the swan. Leda’s vulnerability -Sense of time, consequences of actions. References to the Trojan war that has not yet happened, but will come about after this event. Demonstrating the way all actions have consequences, nothing stands alone.
Form and Structure: -A sonnet, which is uncomfortable considering the violent act in the poem. -Traditional, 14 line sonnet form. Iambic pentameter, songlike, again conflict with the content of the poem. -Petrarchan sonnet, divided octave then sestet around the pivotal moment of the poem, the ‘shudder in the loins’ that is the conception of Leda’s children. -Rhyming couplets in first two stanzas then repeated three rhymes in last stanza, but the rhymes are not absolute (e.g. up and drop) and the final stanza is broken up in a way that makes it seem as though the power of the swan is greater even than the regularity of the poem which contains it.
Language
Unsettling combination of violent and tender imagery. Raises questions about how consensual the act is. Also seems strange that in having a rape as the subject of his poem (which is controversial in itself) Yeats doesn’t make it clear whether he condemning the act. Slightly ambiguous portrayal, e.g. ‘sudden blow’, ‘beating’, ‘broken’, ‘burning’, ‘dead’, ‘blood’ vs ‘caressed’, ‘breast upon his breast’, ‘loosening thighs’, ‘laid’, ‘heart beating’. -Sound qualities of the language. Alliteration of ‘He holds her helpless’ seems ordered, set, as though this is inevitable. Alliteration of harsh consonant ‘b’, ‘broken wall, burning roof’, ‘brute blood’, seems violent, harsh.
Imagery:
Colour imagery, dark and light. Sense of ambiguity on the morality of the act. Dark= sin, light/ white= goodness/ holiness, so it is strange that the swan is described with both. ‘Dark webs’ ‘white rush’. -Dual representation of the swan, at times seeming human, more like the girl, and at others like a monster/ something alien e.g. ‘breast upon his breast’, ‘heart beating’, ‘his knowledge’ vs ‘great wings’, ‘dark webs’, ‘strange’, ‘indifferent beak’. -Imagery to do with size/ scale. Power of the swan and vulnerability of Leda. ‘Great wings’, ‘Above’, ‘mastered’, ‘power’ vs ‘staggering’, ‘terrified’.