2. Yeats’ “Leda and the Swan” By Catherine Ford

3. Greek Myth -Zeus disguised as swan rapes Leda -Gives birth to Clytemnestra, Helen of Troy, Castor and Polydeuces -Clytemnestra and Agamemnon

4. 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

5. Basic Style -Iambic Pentameter -Enjambment -Sonnet

6. 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

7. Stanza 2 -concerning Leda’s conflicting emotions -Questions -Personification -Gyre: knowledge of mind and event

8. Stanza 3 -ejaculation and transition -Gyre “Being so caught up,” -Creates drama, separate stanzas 3 and 4

9. Stanza 4 -past tense -question, alliteration Important Ideas -Gyre -Lack of understanding

10. Other Interpretations of Gyre Transition -blaming women for pregnancy -Historical: Ireland’s relationship with England

11. 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.