(in Yeats’s conception) the end of modern history, “Leda and the The title of the poem is important, because it is the only indication of the characters who are the subject of the poem. A possible reason for Yeats’s daring motivation, may be the fact that he was trying to make it more obvious what Leda and Zeus represent, that is Leda, as Ireland, being conquered by Zeus, a symbol for England. [32]. In these images Leda is frequently surrounded by her children, and the eggs from which they hatched. Yeats's Leda and the Swan is a sonnet based on Greek mythology, and one in which he interprets the rape of queen Leda by god Zeus as an incident of annunciation of a two thousand years' long phase of civilizational cycle in history. The third voice, a girl who is pregnant and leaves her baby, mentions "the great swan, with its terrible look,/ Coming at me," insinuating that the girl was raped. Pride and the team continue the investigation of an officer's assault and the murder of her therapist and zeroes in on a prime suspect who's been working the system for years. "[30] See external links for a bas relief arranged in the position as described by Yeats. What is an Annunciation? Yeats1. Directed by Diana Valentine. The title of the poem is important, because it is the only indication of the characters who are the subject of the poem. The fact that Zeus comes in the form of a swan shows the “otherness” between Leda and Zeus. Ovid Illustrated – large site from the University of Virginia, where many depictions of Leda and the Swan from Renaissance and later editions of the Metamorphoses will (eventually) be found. They were often based on the extremely brief account in the Metamorphoses of Ovid (who does not imply a rape), though Lorenzo de' Medici had both a Roman sarcophagus and an antique carved gem of the subject, both with reclining Ledas. In the myth, Leda gave birth to four children, who hatched from eggs. and the final six (the “sestet”), the dividing line being the moment "Art Facts: a mix of media on Wells Street", Third Vintage Contemporaries Edition, 2008, pg106, collection of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Special Exhibitions: Poets, Lovers, and Heroes in Italian Mythological Prints, Bacchiacca (Francesco d'Ubertino): Leda and the Swan | Work of Art | Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "The monument of the Dioscuri in Stoupa was inaugurated", Version of Leda and the Swan myth, in the "Fabulae" of Hyginus, Bas relief from the British Museum that appears as the scene does in the Yeats sonnet. The poem which is structured into a hybrid sonnet (Shakespearean + Petrarchan) captures Yeats’ political voice by exploring themes of violence through sensuality as well as its consequences within a historical allusion. Zeus, as the swan, only appears metaphorically. The swan is traditionally symbolized as beauty and grace in Greek culture (pure spirit). Diction in “Leda and the Swan” contributes to the intentional ambiguity, and the larger theme of sexism, in that the images created are dual and contradictory in meaning. Like many artists, he imagines the beak penetrating Leda's vagina.[28]. Zeus raped (or seduced) Leda, a mortal, while he was in the form of a swan. Once again, a Yeats poem opens with a predatory bird, which now turns its violence against the human. Yeats presents this tale in a relatively graphic way, so modern readers may find the language disturbing. "Carole Harmel", Catalogue essay, Chicago: Galerija, 1983. “mastered by the brute blood of the air,” assumed his knowledge The Winnipeg Art Gallery in Canada has, in its permanent collection, a ceramic "Leda and the Swan" by Japanese-born American artist Akio Takamori. rape of the girl Leda by the god Zeus, who had assumed the form [17] The subject remained largely confined to Italy, and sometimes France – Northern versions are rare. With Scott Bakula, Vanessa Ferlito, Necar Zadegan, Charles Michael Davis. Leda is a woman and Zeus is an animal. As it is shared with the recognisable art motif interpreted by artists like Rubens or Michelangelo, it brings the whole scene into the reader’s imagination and helps to decode the meaning of the poem. Helen of Troy was conceived in the rape … Leda’s “terrified vague fingers” push the feathered glory of the In addition, a sculptural group, similar to the Prado Roman group illustrated, was believed until at least the 19th century to be by Michelangelo. Impregnated by Zeus, Leda will give birth to Helen and Clytemnestra. of ejaculation—the “shudder in the loins.” The rhyme scheme of the One of the children was Helen of Troy, the woman the Trojan War was fought over. It was purchased by Larry Gagosian for $52.9 million at Christie's May 2017 Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale. [citation needed], There is a life-sized marble statue of Leda and the Swan at the Jai Vilas Palace Museum in Gwalior, Northern Madhya Pradesh, India. [18] After something of a hiatus in the 18th and early 19th centuries (apart from a very sensuous Boucher,[19]), Leda and the Swan became again a popular motif in the later 19th and 20th centuries, with many Symbolist and Expressionist treatments. In the myth, Leda … Also like “The Second Coming,” “Leda and the Swan” is sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFGEFG. [27], Ronsard wrote a poem on La Défloration de Lède, perhaps inspired by the Michelangelo, which he may well have known. For other uses, see, The idea that the semen of more than one male might influence pregnancy, a feature in the origin myth of. “Leda and the Swan” is a sonnet, a traditional fourteen-line Yates wrote this sonnet at the height of his career in 1928; the same year he won the Nobel Prize for literature. world. The theme remained a dangerous one in the Renaissance, as the fates of the three best known paintings on the subject demonstrate. The earliest depictions were all in the more private medium of the old master print, and mostly from Venice. Directed by Diana Valentine. form of a swan, she laid eggs, which hatched into Clytemnestra and Impregnated by Zeus, Leda will give birth to Helen and Clytemnestra. [9][10] Palumba made another engraving, perhaps in about 1512, presumably influenced by Leonardo's sketches for his earlier composition, showing Leda seated on the ground and playing with her children. history. https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/william-butler-yeats/leda-and-the-swan Neither survive as paintings by Leonardo, but there are a number of drawings for both by him, and copies in oils, especially of the second composition, where Leda stands. model of gyres, which he offers in A Vision, his Ronsard wrote a poem on La Défloration de Lède, perhaps inspired by the Michelangelo, which he may well have known. With Zeus she also had Helen of Troy and with Tyndareus she had Clytemnestra [1]. The first is a married woman who keeps her baby. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. [33] The law concerned was Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, condemning 'violent pornography', brought in by the Labour Party government of 2005–2010. William Butler Yeats 's "Leda and the Swan" retells the story from Greek mythology of the rape of a girl named Leda by Zeus, the most powerful of the Greek gods. "The fable of Leda" (Leda and the Swan), Eugenio Cajés (copy of Correggio), Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. According to Greek myth, Leda was the mother of mankind. a moment that represented a change of era in Yeats’s historical Interpretation of W.B. The Trojan—fought on the account of Helen—is to be viewed within Yeats’ somewhat cosmological view of civilization as occurring in cycles. Her thighs loosen at the Swan's forced will. Yeats’s poem “Leda and the Swan,” Yeats uses the retelling of a classical myth and its connotations to symbolize English dominance over the Irish people. [11], There were also significant depictions in the smaller decorative arts, also private media. Sylvia Plath alludes to the myth in her radio play Three Women written for the BBC in 1962. engenders “The broken wall, the burning roof and tower, and Agamemnon of a swan. A corporation uses genetic engineering to create a series of female clones (Leda) and a series of male clones (Castor) who are also brothers and sisters clones as they derive from one mother who is a chimera with male and female genomes. In the Greek myth of Leda and the Swan, Zeus, disguised as a swan, seduces the mortal Leda. “her helpless breast upon his breast.” How, the speaker asks, could The god Zeus turned himself a swan in order to rape the beautiful woman Leda. The speaker wonders if Leda acquired any of Zeus 's knowledge as the swan overpowered her. The film retains the classical motif, portraying, for most of its duration, a young woman embracing a swan. about the Trojan War (“The broken wall, the burning roof and tower, In some versions, she laid two eggs from which the children hatched. The second of the two poems, ‘Leda and the Swan’, takes us back to the first era of destruction, cruelty and war, before the epoch of Christianity. it, the “history” of Leda is that, raped by the god Zeus in the The speaker retells a story from Greek mythology, the The message of “Leda and the Swan” is often interpreted in drastically different ways due to the ambiguity of the text. Did a lion apologize? Out of this contact of a superhuman (Zeus) and a human woman (Leda) were born the great heroes and heroines who created Athenian civilization and whose exploits have been narrated in the Homeric epics. Carter's mother confronts him when he refuses to talk to the FBI for a background check on her behalf, and Sebastian … H.D. How does this relate to the theme of Leda and the Swan? Leda and the Swan is a Greek legend in which the all powerful God Zeus, taking the form of a beautiful swan, seduces Leda, Queen of Sparta, giving birth to an egg from which the twins Castor and Pollux hatched. In April 2012 an art gallery in London, England, was instructed by the police to remove a modern exhibit of Leda and the Swan. Leda felt a sudden blow, with the “great wings” of the "The Wild Swans at Coole" has a heavy focus on the mesmerising characteristics of the swan. But where “The Second Coming” represents [20], Cy Twombly executed an abstract version of Leda and the Swan in 1962. Leda ans the Swan by W.B. Her thighs were caressed by “the dark 'Leda and the Swan' is based off Greek mythology when Zeus disguises himself as a swan and rapes Leda, resulting in the birth of two demi … The swan also metaphorically represents the power of Britain while Leda represents the vulnerability of Ireland. Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío's 1892 poem "Leda" contains an oblique description of the rape, watched over by the god Pan.[31]. Combining psychological realism with a mystic vision, it describes the swan's rape of Leda. The original was last recorded in the French royal Château de Fontainebleau in 1625 by Cassiano dal Pozzo: [8] Another engraving, certainly from Venice and attributed by many to Giulio Campagnola, shows a love-making scene, but there Leda's attitude is highly ambiguous. The play features the voices of three women. [22], Avant-garde filmmaker Kurt Kren along with other members of the Viennese Actionist movement, including Otto Muehl and Hermann Nitsch, made a film-performance called 7/64 Leda mit der Schwan in 1964. The details of the story of the Trojan War It also alludes to the Trojan war, which will be provoked by the abduction of Helen, who will be begotten by Zeus on Leda (along with Castor and Pollux, in some versions of the myth). ' Leda and the Swan ' is based off Greek mythology when Zeus disguises himself as a swan and rapes Leda, resulting in the birth of two demi-gods, Helen and Pollux and two mortal children, Castor and Clytemnestra. How does this relate to the theme of Leda and the Swan? The Swan dominates Leda by raping her. of the Greek leader Agamemnon, had her husband murdered. Yeats’s poem ‘Leda and the Swan’ ‘Leda and the Swan’ by William Butler Yeats is a poem with a title important to its understanding. In Leda and the Swan, one of the main allusions is the idea that a young woman was raped by a swan. Leda and the Swan by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1895, Leda and the Swan by Fernando Botero, 1996, Leda and the Swan, by Massimiliano Soldani, 1725, Leda and the Swan (after Boucher) by Genieve Figgis 2018, Acrylic on canvas, 23 x 31 inches, This article is about the story and its depictions. From that, Helen, Clytemnestra, Castor, and Pollux were born. The character Frank Wheeler, married to April Wheeler, after having had sex with an office secretary ponders what to say as he is leaving: "Did the swan apologize to Leda? The subject was rarely seen in the large-scale sculpture of antiquity, although a representation of Leda in sculpture has been attributed in modern times to Timotheus (compare illustration, below left); small-scale sculptures survive showing both reclining and standing poses,[3] in cameos and engraved gems, rings, and terracotta oil lamps. Bull p. 167. a massive swan—than for its place in Yeats’s occult history of the Like “The Second Coming,” “Leda and the Swan” describes drop.”. Benvenuto Cellini made a medallion, now in Vienna, early in his career, and Antonio Abondio one on the obverse of a medal celebrating a Roman courtesan.[12]. woman in the world, was kidnapped by the Trojans, so the Greeks The structure of this sonnet is Petrarchan This conception results in the birth of Helen of Troy, who grows up to cause the legendary Trojan War—an event that, in turn, becomes the catalyst for the Golden Age of Greece and the dawn of modern history. Leda and the swan [ (lee-duh) ] The subject of a story from classical mythology about the rape of Leda, a queen of Sparta, by Zeus, who had taken the form of a swan. Initially intended as a political parable of the modern times (Ross, 141), the poem uses imagery, rhythm and feeling to express a … The king of Greek gods and goddesses living on Mount Olympus, Zeus or Jupiter appeared to Leda in the form of a Swan and made love to her. The story of Leda and the Swan was the subject of two compositions by Leonardo da Vinci from perhaps 1503–10. He belonged to the Protestant, Anglo-Irish minority that had controlled the economic, political, social, and cultural life … it is important to know only the war’s lasting impact: it brought [6], The earliest known explicit Renaissance depiction is one of the many woodcut illustrations to Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a book published in Venice in 1499. [1] According to later Greek mythology, Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces, children of Zeus, while at the same time bearing Castor and Clytemnestra, children of her husband Tyndareus, the King of Sparta. The theme of "Leda and the Swan" is the barbarism of human history. Yeats’ Leda and the Swan: Politics and Passion. The myth of Leda and the swan was a popular theme in Renaissance art, but the story was deemed as romantic and charming. This is the case in “Leda and the Swan”. combines words indicating powerful action (sudden blow, beating, Yeats makes the rape of Leda poetic. The description of the sexual action going on makes it seem almost beautiful, as if Leda had given her consent. The subject undoubtedly owed its sixteenth-century popularity to the paradox that it was considered more acceptable to depict a woman in the act of copulation with a swan than with a man. William Butler Yeats ’s daring sonnet describing the details of a story from Greek mythology —the rape of Leda by the god Zeus in the form of a swan—was written at the height of the poet’s career, the same year he received the Nobel Prize for literature. In the text, phrases and words given such as “her thighs caressed/ By the dark webs,” “Breast upon his … Also from that era were sculptures of the theme by Antonin Mercié and Max Klinger. adjectives and descriptive words that indicate Leda’s weakness and The play is about the disconnection of women in society and challenges societal expectations of childbirth. with a clear separation between the first eight lines (the “octave”) valuable more for its powerful and evocative language—which manages Pieszak, Devonna. In his poem “Leda and the Swan,” William Butler Yeats retells the classic Greek myth in which Leda, a human woman, is impregnated by the god Zeus while he is in the form of a swan. In the latter novel, the myth is brought to life in the form of a performance in which a frightened young girl is forced to act as Leda in accompaniment with a large mechanical swan. His son Louis, though a great lover of painting, had periodic crises of conscience about his way of life, in one of which he attacked the figure of Leda with a knife. Nordic lore The myth of Leda and the swan was a popular theme in Renaissance art, but the story was deemed as romantic and charming. Leda and the Swan Programme Note . However it is known from many copies, of which the earliest are probably the Spiridon Leda, perhaps by a studio assistant and now in the Uffizi,[13] and the one at Wilton House in the United Kingdom (illustrated). Published in Yeats’ collection of Later Poems in 1926, ‘Leda and the Swan’ is a sonnet based on a myth from Greek mythology. Figgis’ contemporary version reinvents the idyllic romantic scene of lavish playfulness with a dark humor creating a scene of profanity and horror. Bestiality is a common theme in Greek Mythology and has been repeated throughout poetry for centuries. [citation needed], A statue of an egg depicting the union of Swan/Zeus with Leda, is placed on the island Pefnos of Agios Dimitrios village, in the region of Messenia on the coast of the southern Peloponnese peninsula in Greece. This contradiction emphasizes the nature of sexism, for sexism is often portrayed as a misdirected view of the victim. What is an Annunciation? There were many other depictions in the Renaissance, including cycles of book illustrations to Ovid, but most were derivative of the compositions mentioned above. See for example a marble relief with the Swan, grasping the back of Leda's neck with his beak, excavated in Argos, Not a woodcut, as Bull (p169) wrongly says (see Hind BM catalogue, The Illustrated, Dijkstra, Bram, Idols of Perversity, Oxford University Press, New York, 1986 p.315. A sudden blow that the Swan hits Leda with is all it takes for him to take her. In 1508 he painted a different composition of the subject, with a nude standing Leda cuddling the Swan, with the two sets of infant twins (also nude), and their huge broken egg-shells. "Leda and the Swan" is a sonnet by William Butler Yeats first published in the Dial in 1923. The myth is also mentioned in Richard Yates' 1962 novel Revolutionary Road. Several references to the myth are presented in novels by Angela Carter, including Nights at the Circus and The Magic Toyshop. Both the Leonardo and Michelangelo paintings also disappeared when in the collection of the French Royal Family, and are believed to have been destroyed by more moralistic widows or successors of their owners.[16]. are quite elaborate: briefly, the Greek Helen, the most beautiful Leda and the Swan copy by Giovanni Francesco Melzi after the lost painting by Leonardo, 1508–1515, oil on canvas, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Much attention in the poem is given to her vulnerability to the force of this divine swan: “he holds her helpless breast upon his breast.” She is utterly and entirely unable to stop the assault. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from Sparknotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. Different versions of the myth disagree on whether Leda was actually raped or seduced by Zeus. (Ulpiano Checa). Here, however, Leonardo da Vinci began making studies in 1504 for a painting, apparently never executed, of Leda seated on the ground with her children. This shows Leda and the Swan making love with gusto, despite being on top of a triumphal car, being pulled along and surrounded by a considerable crowd. Thanks to the literary renditions of Ovid and Fulgentius[4] it was a well-known myth through the Middle Ages, but emerged more prominently as a classicizing theme, with erotic overtones, in the Italian Renaissance. Bone, James. staggering, beating, shudder, mastered, burning, mastered) with In the song "Power and Glory" from Lou Reed's 1992 album Magic and Loss, Reed recalls the experience of seeing his friend dying of cancer and makes reference to the myth, "I saw isotopes introduced into his lungs / trying to stop the cancerous spread / And it made me think of Leda and The Swan / and gold being made from lead". [15], The last very famous Renaissance painting of the subject is Correggio's elaborate composition of c. 1530 (Berlin); this too was damaged whilst in the collection of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, the Regent of France in the minority of Louis XV. swan still beating above her. [2] In other versions, Helen is a daughter of Nemesis, the goddess who personified the disaster that awaited those suffering from the pride of Hubris. Leda and the Swan notes Origins Leda and the Swan was a Greek myth in which the God Zeus transformed into a swan and raped the girl Leda. 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. Leda provides the image of innocence, and of a person forced into submission. The theme of "Leda and the Swan," as of "The Second Coming," is the tragedy of history. thus increasing the sensory impact of the poem. A Navy therapist with a high level of security clearance is murdered, Pride and team discover that she was working around the system to get justice for victims of rape. According to many versions of the story, Zeus took the form of a swan and raped Leda on the same night she slept with her husband King Tyndareus. mystical theory of the universe. Leda and the Swan, charcoal, gouache on paper. Genieve Figgis painted her version of Leda and the Swan in 2018 after an earlier work by François Boucher. Leda and the Swan By William Butler Yeats About this Poet William Butler Yeats is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. Like many artists, he imagines the beak penetrating Leda's vagina. The second is a secretary who suffers a miscarriage. Her thighs were caressed by “the darkwebs,” and the nape of her neck was caught in his bill; he held“her helpless breast upon his breast.” How, the speaker asks, couldLeda’s “terrified vague fingers” push the feathered glory of theswan from between her thighs? Conversely, “Leda and the Swan” employs the swan iconography to communicate different themes and ideas. The earliest depictions show the pair love-making with some explicitness—more so than in any depictions of a human pair made by artists of high quality in the same period. For Yeats, the only salvation is the shapeliness and stillness of art. 1530, in the National Gallery, London. helplessness (caressed, helpless, terrified, vague, loosening), A swan, Zeus transformed, raping a women provides an image of sneakiness, dishonesty, and tyranny. “Leda and the Swan” is a retelling by Yeats of the Greek myth wherein Zeus, taking the body of a swan, rapes a young woman named Leda. swan from between her thighs? It tells the mythical tale of Leda being raped by the Greek god Zeus, in the form of a swan, an action that supposedly lead to the birth of Helen of Troy. [14] The Michelangelo composition, of about 1530, shows Mannerist tendencies of elongation and twisted pose (the figura serpentinata) that were popular at the time. In W.B. “Leda and the Swan” by Cesare da Sesto, after Leonardo da Vinci depicts a nude standing Leda cuddling the Swan, with the two sets of infant twins, and their huge broken egg-shells. In the W. B. Yeats version, it is subtly suggested that Clytemnestra, although being the daughter of Tyndareus, has somehow been traumatized by what the swan has done to her mother (see below). With Scott Bakula, Vanessa Ferlito, Necar Zadegan, Charles Michael Davis. The divine swan’s encounter with Leda was a subject depicted by both ancient Greek and Italian Renaissance artists; Leonardo da Vinci undertook a painting (now lost) of the theme, and Correggio’s Leda (c. 1530s) is a well-known treatment of the subject. [29] Camille Paglia, who called the poem "the greatest poem of the twentieth century," and said "all human beings, like Leda, are caught up moment by moment in the 'white rush' of experience. as well as his power “Before the indifferent beak could let her Swans are also present in Irish literature in the poetry of W.B. The swan has recently been depicted on an Irish commemorative coin. The king of Greek gods and goddesses living on Mount Olympus, Zeus or Jupiter appeared to Leda in the form of a Swan and made love to her. Did an eagle apologize? Drawing by Cornelis Bos after the lost original by Michelangelo. In Ancient Greek mythology – and in Yeats's poem – Leda's rape is taken as an indirect a cause of war.