FREE ESSAY ON WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS' "LEDA AND THE SWAN"

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS' "LEDA AND THE SWAN"

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 thought of as birds of beauty and
grace, and symbolize elegance and peacefulness. The action of the swan in the poem
actions is the total opposite and one may find it ironic. This could imply the reason
that Zeus chose this bird for his disguise: it would be easier to surprise and overwhelm
Leda. 
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.
The next four lines capture the terror that Leda must feel as she is overwhelmed and
virtually smothered by this living down comforter. Yet the speaker manages to incorporate
a sensual aspect within the violent confines of the description. Amidst the violence of
the rape as it is occurring, the speaker manages to convey confusion, and wonder at what
it is that is actually overtaking Leda. The speaker wonders "How can those terrified
vague fingers push/The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?" At this point in the
poem, it becomes clear with the descriptive language and imagery that this is much more
than a random act of violence. Has it occurred to Leda just who is occupying the body of
the swan? Is there more here than a rape scene?
Since, as part of the myth it is known that Zeus is the one occupying the form of the
swan, and since he is "king of the gods" this could be interpreted as more of a divine
intervention.. This is even more telling because Helen of Troy, the woman who launched
1000 ships because of her beauty-is the result of this "union."
The following four lines (lines 9, 10, 11 & 12) go one step further. These lines refer to
the overtaking of Troy by the Greeks, during which the gods all respectively played their
part and personalities by taking their preferred sides. The speaker could be connecting
the conception of Helen, whose eventual abduction from her husband, Menelaus, (brother of
Agamemnon) began the Trojan War. 
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 has to take into account the myth-this is not a
typical act of violence from a man against a woman. Yeats has brought in the idea that
the doing in of Troy was begun in this single act-the conception of Helen of Troy-which
leads to an interesting commentary on the unfolding of history and whether events as they
occur are actually in our control or not!