ipl-logo

Leda And The Swan Poem Analysis

773 Words4 Pages

Crime of Innocence William Butler Yeats’ poem, “Leda and the Swan” is a dark tale that originated from the Greek myth in which Zeus takes the form of a swan to seduce the beautiful woman, Leda. The swan is traditionally symbolized as beauty and grace in Greek culture (pure spirit). Yeats uses the representation of a swan as an illusion to set the tone of the poem, where the readers would expect the swan as a protagonist. Contrarily, the swan revealed to be the antagonist. The speaker uses abstract words that appeared less destructive than the actuality happening as well as a double meaning in his writing. Further into the poem, the author includes many implications that perceives Leda 's confounded perception to how the appearance of innocence can be capable of committing great evil. The symbolism of the swan in the poem is written in a hauntingly beautiful way, despite the obscenities that is occurring within the stanzas. The speaker immediately establishes the physical relationship between the swan and Leda within the first four lines: “A sudden blow: the great wings beating still / Above the staggering girl, she her thighs caressed / By the …show more content…

The Greek myth of Agamemnon was about a king, who was betrayed by his wife despite his war efforts to reclaim his throne. In the second last stanza, “The broken wall, the burning roof and tower / And Agamemnon dead.” (lines 10, 11) references to the innocent expectations Leda had of the swan but was wrongly mistaken when the rape occurred. The betrayal takes place by the swan gaining Leda’s trust by impersonation of purity and victimizing her. This use of mistrust resulted in the confusion of Leda, not able to grasp what she wanted. By including this allusion of broken trust, the author ties in Agamemnon to Leda, showing the readers how misplaced Leda’s thoughts can be due to the holy bird she once

Show More
Related

Alena Munkova Synlight Poem Analysis

1070 Words | 5 Pages

Source 1 (183) : The extermination of millions of Jewish people during the Holocaust was a horrific event that shall be remembered forever. Located in the city of Houston, there stands a distinguished building known as the Houston Holocaust Museum where engraved in its walls, are the memories and stories of some of the survivors. The museum’s mission is to continually educate people about the dangers of hatred and violence as well as to instill hope by working to repair the world. “ Alena Munkova-Synkova is the only child whose poem appears in the book still alive today”

Read More

Compare And Contrast Siren Song And Where Are You Going Where You Been

309 Words | 2 Pages

In the pieces “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, the authors play on the idea of how a hunger for lust can be a hunt and turn the character into a predator. In order for the predator to achieve this, they must know the prey and it’s weakness very thoroughly. In “Siren Song”, the predator is a siren who attempting to attract men to her position. On the contrary, in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, the hunter is Arnold Friend, who tries to appeal to Connie’s weaknesses. Both characters have a firm understanding of the prey they are hunting,

Read More

'Tarmageddon' By Andrew Nikiforuk

760 Words | 4 Pages

From the

Read More

Comparing The Sirens In Homer's Odyssey And Siren Song

671 Words | 3 Pages

The Sirens embody the feminine take on a “seductress,” personifying a gorgeous creature whose aspiration is to induce masculine victims to their demise. Atwood

Read More

Diction And Irony In Margaret Atwood's Siren Song

674 Words | 3 Pages

“Temptation is the feeling we get when encountered by an opportunity to do what we innately know we shouldn't” (Steve Marboli). The men in Margaret Atwood’s poem, “Siren Song,” experience this temptation and betrayal of their natural instinct. The narrator, a mythological being called a Siren, lures sailors from the sea and turns them into their prey. Throughout the poem, the Siren tells about their infamous and irresistible song that eventually leads to the men’s demise. The Siren’s beauty and voice cause the sailors to abandon their ship even when there are obvious indications telling them that they should not.

Read More

The White Heron And Cathedral Literary Devices

1124 Words | 5 Pages

The white heron in this story symbolizes the sanctity and innocence of nature. When Slyvia is finally confronted with an opportunity to sell out the bird to her esteemed hunter “she remembers how the white heron came flying through the golden air and how they watched the sea and the morning together, and Sylvia cannot speak; she cannot tell the heron’s secret and give its life away” (8). Nature is completely vulnerable to how humans decide to treat it.

Read More

In The Blue Poem Analysis

537 Words | 3 Pages

Loss is an experience unique to each individual and James McAuley and Gwen Harwood explore this in their poems “Pietà” and “In the Park”. The free verse “Pietà” bears witness to the physical loss a father endures on the anniversary of his son’s death, while in contrast, the sonnet “In the Park” explores the loss of self-identity that a mother feels in her role as a parent. The physical loss that accompanies the death of a loved one is depicted in “Pietà” when the narrator recounts how his son came metaphorically “Early into the light” of life, “Then died” one year prior. By accepting the part that death plays in one’s life, he acknowledges that “no one (is) to blame” for the loss, however, this resignation does not console his anguish. Just as he is consumed by his grief, so too is the mother in Harwood’s narrative but her pain stems from a loss of self-identity due to motherhood.

Read More

Siren Song Margaret Atwood Analysis

918 Words | 4 Pages

Sirens are portrayed as alluring through use of imagery. The Sirens “sent their ravishing voices out across the air”. The image created by “ravishing voices” brings up the physical image of being submersed in their mysterious songs, an alluring image. In contrast to Homer’s seductive Sirens, Atwood’s are deceptive. This is shown through use of imagery.

Read More

Ashley Lieberg Research Paper

734 Words | 3 Pages

By

Read More

For What It's Worth Poem Analysis

572 Words | 3 Pages

‘For What It’s Worth’ by Buffalo Springfield has a logical message because it is referring to the Sunset Strip Riots that took place in Hollywood during the 1960’s. People protested when they lost their civil rights due to a curfew law that was put into place. The song says, “Stop, children, what’s that sound. Everybody look- what’s going down?”

Read More

Poem Analysis: After Us By Connie Wanek

400 Words | 2 Pages

Licata "After Us" Essay In "After Us" Connie Wanek uses imagery of rain to show that the human race will either continue to grow or it will destroy itself. "After Us" is talking about the human race, either at the beginning or end of its existence. It talks about a perfect world, one that has grown and flourished, but it starts to rain. They do not know if it is the rain will stop and they will continue to live, or if the rain will go on forever therefor eventually destroying humanity.

Read More

How The Miracle On Ice Changed American Culture

1735 Words | 7 Pages

The date was February 22, 1980 in a snowy Lake Placid New York; “Morrow up to Silk, you’ve got five seconds left in the game, do you believe in miracles? Yes!” and so it began. Al Michael’s call ended the game, but the games impact just began to be recognized across America. The United States Men’s Olympic Hockey Team had just beaten the Soviet Union’s Olympic team 4 to 3 in a major upset that shocked the world.

Read More

A Step Away From Them Poem Analysis

989 Words | 4 Pages

The poem A Step Away From Them by Frank O’Hara has five stanzas written in a free verse format with no distinguishable rhyme scheme or meter. The poem uses the following asymmetrical line structure “14-10-9-13-3” while using poetic devices such as enjambment, imagery, and allusion to create each stanza. A Step Away From Them occurs in one place, New York City. We know this because of the lines, “On/ to Times Square, / where the sign/blows smoke over my head” (13-14) and “the Manhattan Storage Warehouse.”

Read More

Jazzonia Poem Analysis

948 Words | 4 Pages

The final poem of significance is Jazzonia, in which Hughes experiments with literary form to transform the act of listening to jazz into an ahistorical and biblical act. Neglecting form, it is easy to interpret the poem shallowly as a simple depiction of a night-out in a cabaret with jazz whipping people into a jovial frenzy of singing and dancing. But, the poem possesses more depth, when you immerse yourself in the literary form. The first aspect of form to interrogate is the couplet Hughes thrice repeats: “Oh, silver tree!/Oh, shining rivers of the soul!” Here, we see the first transformation.

Read More

Sarodani Naidu Poetry Analysis

993 Words | 4 Pages

NATIONALISM IN THE WORKS OF SAROJINI NAIDU ABSTRACT: Indian English Poetry is remarkably great. In Naidu 's poetry one can see the representation of the different colours of India and its folk cultures. There is also depiction of her secular outlook and patriotism as her theme of her poetry.

Read More

More about Leda And The Swan Poem Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document