1. Abby, Lola, Veronica, Jaanhavi, Sonali
Leda and the Swan
Abby, Lola, Veronica, Jaanhavi, Sonali

2. The Poem A sudden blow: the great wings beating 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.
How can those terrified vague fingers push
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
And how can body, laid in that white rush,
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower[20]
And Agamemnon dead.
Being so caught up,
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
Veronica

3. Activity
Draw a swan on a notecard
Veronica

4. Activity
Now rip it into pieces (not too small)
Set aside for later

5. Context
Leda - in greek legend she is raped by Zeus, who was in the form of a swan
She lays eggs and her children hatch from them, the poem does not focus on this
Written in 1924 a year after the Irish civil war
Written during Yeats’s later political/modernist phase of poetry but the poem has some aspects of romanticism
More of a global perspective rather than focusing on Ireland
Fun fact: Yeats was the first person from Ireland to receive the nobel prize in literature in 1923
Sonali

6. Fun Facts about the poeM
In Greek mythology, Leda was the wife of Tyndareus, king of Sparta. Zeus fell in love with Leda and used to visit her, disguised as a swan. Leda was the mother of Castor, Pollux, Helen of Troy, and Clytemnestra. She is represented in art with a swan by her side.
abby

7. Dominant Effect
In Leda and the Swan, William Butler Yeats uses mythological allusions to show the irony of beautiful art stemming from horrific experiences, highlighting how personal expression can be used to resurrect the world from ruins.
Veronica

8. Fun fact: Yeats’s brother was Ireland’s first Olympic medalist
Summary Chart
Ideas
Modernism
Leda’s weakness/point of collapse
Art influences art
Art stems from disaster
Love stems from destruction
Techniques
Allusions to Troy
Motif of violence (vivid imagery)
Bird imagery
Symbol of Swan
Evocative language/style
Rhetorical Questions
Fun fact: Yeats’s brother was Ireland’s first Olympic medalist
Jaanhavi

9. Structure
14 line poem broken up into 4 stanzas written in iambic pentameter
Speaker is ambiguous to emphasize the theme that art influences art
The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFG EFG to show the progression of the motif of violence throughout the poem
First 8 lines of the poem are heavily focused on Leda’s sensory impressions of rape: “staggering girl” “thighs caressed” “terrified vague fingers” “loosening thighs” conveyed through Leda’s weaknesses to create a mood of helplessness
The last 6 lines of the poem focus on the allusion to the burning of Troy: “The broken wall, the burning roof and tower/And Agamemnon dead”, Yeats uses horrifying diction to convey that if the Odyssey didn’t exist, his own poetry wouldn’t have sufficient depth to convey its’ meaning either
lola

10. How does the shift from the first 6 lines to the last 8 lines of the poem impact the message/meaning of the poem?
Lola

11. Allusions to Troy
Yeats alludes to The Odyssey of Homer throughout this poem to emphasize its’ importance in terms of existing disasters influencing Yeats’ poetry
“The broken wall, the burning roof and tower/And Agamemnon dead”
Allusion to Agamemnon- a greek hero who had died during the Trojan War
Setting the scene to one that has faced destruction
Yeats includes three rhetorical questions in this poem
One being the last line of the poem, where the reader is getting “dropped” like Leda is dropped to the ground
Creating a sympathetic mood between Leda and the reader
Jaanhavi

12. How does yeats use homer’s the odyssey to convey meaning in the poem?
jaanhavi

13. Motif of violence
Example: “The broken wall, the burning roof and tower”
Uses the legend of the rape of Leda to show art stems from terrible experiences - major theme
Art also stems from other art
The allusion to troy was originally written in The Odyssey by Homer
If that piece did not exist this form of art would not exist
Art can be used to help the world
Art stems from violence/destruction and other art
sonali

14. How does the theme of destruction relate to the message of the poem?
sonali

15. Symbol of the swan/Bird imagery
Yeats uses bird imagery from the beginning of the poem to introduce the Swan as a symbol for the mythological figure, Zeus
“great wings”
“Feathered glory”
“indifferent beak”
Repetition of “beating” after “wings” and then later after “heart” draws a parallel between the bird and Leda
Yeats primarily uses Swans as a symbol for art to show the irony that beautiful art stems from horrifying experiences
Swans are usually considered to be a calm beautiful animal, however Yeats chose to illustrate a disturbing scene with them to show the degradation of artistic spirit in Ireland
abby

16. Evocative language/style
Vivid rape imagery creates a dark mood by the use of powerful diction
“Sudden blow”
“Staggering girl”
“Loosening thighs”
Leda’s weakness is conveyed through powerful diction “shudder” versus her destruction “burning” in the following line
Rhetorical questions in the second stanza introduce a questioning mood to the reader as Yeats ironically draws parallels between Swans and the rape scene
“How can those terrified vague fingers push/The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?”
“And how can body, laid in that white rush,/But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?”
Abby

17. How does yeats use horrifying imagery in the rape scene to fuel the creation of art?
Abby

18. Activity part 2
Take the drawing of the swan that you ripped apart earlier, and try to use your table groups’ pieces to put together a bigger swan
(If a swan does not work,
put together any form of new art)
Sonali

19. Activity explained
First, we asked you guys to draw a swan on a piece of paper (creating a form of art)
Just like the Odyssey and the legend of Leda and the swan, were already created before Yeats wrote this poem
As you guys ripped the art, it became a disaster of different pieces
Finally, the disaster was re-assembled into a new form of art
Conveying the central message of this poem:
Art influences art
Art stems from disaster
You were able to create new art from an already existing piece of art
Similar to how Yeats was able to use the Odyssey and the legend of Leda as artistic allusions to guide his poetry
Lola

20. EGG-Xit slip
Answer this question on a notecard:
How does Yeats use bird imagery in Leda and the Swans compared to in his other poems?
Poems that have bird imagery:
The Wild Swans at Coole
September 1913
Sailing to Byzantium
Lola

21. Sources
Anirudh, and Anirudh. “W. B. Yeats | 10 Facts About The Great Irish Poet.” Learnodo Newtonic, 27 Jan. 2016, learnodo-newtonic.com/w-b-yeats-facts.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Leda.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 15 May 2009,
Editors, The. “William Butler Yeats 101 by The Editors.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation,
“Facts About All.” Leda (Mythology), factspage.blogspot.com/2013/08/leda-mythology.html.
“Leda and the Swan Historical Context.” BookRags, BookRags,