Transcript Leda and the Swan

Yeats’ “Leda and the Swan”
By Catherine Ford
Greek Myth
-Zeus disguised as swan rapes Leda
-Gives birth to Clytemnestra, Helen
of Troy, Castor and Polydeuces
-Clytemnestra and Agamemnon
Yeats’ Use of the Myth
-Gyre
-Maud Gonne
“How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true;
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you
And loved the sorrows of your changing face”
– Yeats “When You Are Old
Basic Style
-Iambic Pentameter
-Enjambment
-Sonnet
Stanza 1
-about the rape itself
-Opening
-Tone
-Not given full view, only body
parts
-Diction
-Foreshadowing in line 3
-Alliteration and repetition in last
line
Stanza 2
-concerning Leda’s conflicting
emotions
-Questions
-Personification
-Gyre: knowledge of mind and event
Stanza 3
-ejaculation and transition
-Gyre
“Being so caught up,”
-Creates drama, separate stanzas 3
and 4
Stanza 4
-past tense
-question, alliteration
Important Ideas
-Gyre
-Lack of understanding
Other Interpretations of Gyre
Transition
-blaming women for pregnancy
-Historical: Ireland’s relationship
with England
Acknowledgments
Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths II. London: The Folio Society, 2003.
Holstad, Scott C. “Yeats’ Leda and the Swan: Psycho-Sexual Therapy in Action.” Accesses February 19, 2011.
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~erdemoz/Write/leda.html.
Shaw, Priscilla Washburn. William Butler Yeats. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.
Sparknotes. “Leda and the Swan.” Accessed February 19, 2011.
http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/yeats/section7.rhtml.
Tiphane, Guy. “Yeats’ Leda and the Swan: Politics and Passion.” Accessed February 19, 2011.
http://www.tiphane.org/guy/portfolio/ledaswan.htm.
Michelangelo. Leda and the Swan. 1530.
Da Vinci, Leonardo. Leda and the Swan. 1515.
Dali, Salvador. Leda Atomica. 1949.
Bowers, David M. Leda and the Swan. No date.
Tillier, Paul Prosper. Leda and the Swan. No date.
Rivera, Paco. Leda and the Swan. No date.
Unknown. Leda and the Swan. 1917.
Unknown. Leda Mosaic.