Leda In The Swan By William Butler Yeats Leda And The Swan

The sonnet is a form of poetry that is vastly used among poets. There are usually two types of sonnets in poetry, the Shakespearean sonnet and the Italian sonnet. Sonnets are typically defined as poems made up of 14 lines that rhyme in a specific way. William Butler Yeats’ “Leda and the Swan” is an example of an Italian sonnet. It consists of 14 lines and the rhyme scheme is ABABCDCDEFGEFG. In his poem, Yeats’ uses the sonnet form in many traditional ways. However Yeats’ also revises the sonnet form in order to help readers understand the main theme of the poem, which is rape.

The poem starts off very surprising. In the first stanza, the speaker says, “A sudden blow: the great wings 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” (1-4). Right away the speaker seems surprised. The girl wasn’t expecting a blow anytime soon and was knocked down. She seems disoriented and unsure of what’s going on. The bird is described as having “great wings.” This diction makes him seem powerful. Furthermore, he is above Leda and starts caressing her thighs. She seems helpless at this point. In line three of the poem, the swan grabs her neck with his bill. Then, he holds her closer so that their breasts can touch. The language here creates a very intimate setting. In addition to that, Leda’s breast is described as helpless. It seems that she can’t do anything and must let the rape continue. The way the poem is being told in the first stanza seems to allude to the myth of Leda and the Swan in Greek mythology. It seems that Yeats’ wants to portray the swan as the Greek god Zeus in the poem. In the second stanza, the speaker asks two questions. The spe...

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...tead of foreshadowing the future. The speaker wonders if she knew what was going on while she was being raped and the consequences of Zeus’ actions. Furthermore, since this is an Italian sonnet, it is divided into two sections. The first section consists of the first eight lines and is called the octave. The second section is called the subset and consists of the final six lines of the poem. In the poem, the first part talks about Leda being raped by the powerful swan. She is helpless and even though she struggles, she cannot escape. This part of the poem focuses on Leda’s view of the situation. In the subset, the swan finally finishes raping Leda and the poem moves on to address what exactly has happened. In the subset, the speaker narrates the consequences of the rape. These consequences include the burning of the city of Troy and the Trojan War.

In conclusion,