Leda And The Sw Actions Always Have Consequences

“Leda and the Swan”: Actions Always Have Consequences

Poems and stories, such as William Yeats’s, “Leda and the Swan,” tie itself to mythology in that Yeats’s poem has definitive features particular to myth. According to Lisa Maurizio’s book, “Classical Mythology in Context” Maurizio categorizes myth as being a story that provides “high emotional content (Maurizio p.12)” which can “”provide systems of interpreting individual experience within a universal perspective (Maurizio p.15)” and “tells of the deeds of superhuman being such as gods (Maurizio p.12)” to which ‘Leda and the Swan” clearly adheres. However, at first glance, many would mistaken the focus of Yeats’s poem as being one of purely sexual and the violent rape of a helpless women

(quoted in Maurizio p.142)

Evaluating the first couple of lines of the poem above, “A sudden blow: the great wings beating still above the staggering girl,” Yeats’s visualization of Leda on the ground while Zeus hovers above her displays Zeus’s godly might is no match for a mortal. Being that Zeus takes the shape of a swan to hide his identity he acts animalistically toward Leda as “her thighs caressed by the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, he holds her helpless breast upon his breast” as if Zeus, who is not only powerful but is also extremely knowledgeable, became momentarily absent minded and is giving into his sexual temptation. In this way Yeats uses these actions to signify that although Zeus is a god, he also reveals human qualities. When he swoops from the heavens as a swan to earth, this is another metaphor that physically shows that he removes himself from an omnipotent godly position to a fallible one on earth. The poem’s erotic depiction of Leda, a beautiful young woman, forcefully overpowered by a swan and forcibly violated seems to be about the rape but it also addresses the issue of the consequences of the

But were these two traits passed onto Clytemnestra and Helen? No, they were not. Like earlier in his poem, Yeats introduces the death of Agamemnon in order to portray Clytemnestra’s ignorance. Moreover the fall of Troy was Helen’s doing because she chose to follow her heart instead of using her intellect not contemplating what her actions could and would ultimately invoke. In this sense Leda did not put on Zeus’s knowledge, wisdom, or intelligence however she did put on his power. Although Zeus’s strength is unmatched, Helen is technically a demigod and wields her power presented as he glorious beauty and will power. It takes great fortitude for Helen to risk everything to be with her lover Paris yet this same strength is two sided. It also has the power to commence the Trojan War and completely destroy two nations. As much blame as mythology bestows on Helen for the downfall of Troy, in “Leda and the Swan,” Yeats ultimately places the true blame on Zeus and his insatiable sexual