Leda and the swan: A strange meeting.

 Leda and the swan: A strange meeting.

Nefertari Vazquez Gómez

The poem introduces a characteristic of the encounter between the two characters in the very first line giving it the adjective sudden, that can also describe the shudder in the third stanza.

Then, along the first two quatrains, the action is described, but we have no subject pronoun, we have great wings belonging to the god or beast, a staggering girl, whose thighs are caressed by dark webs. Interesting to notice that when the voice talks about the lady it uses human parts of the body, even the word body, and when it refers to the god, it uses, logically parts of an animal body. But also, the fact that the god is strong, glorious and the lady is surrounded by negative adjectives, related to weakness, as opposites.

Then we can see she (her nape) is caught in his bill. And it is until this point that a personal pronoun appears: He holds her helpless breast, another interesting thing to notice at a language point is that, it is the only subject pronoun used along the poem.

Until line four, the poem shows a confusing scene, confusing because it was sudden, a sudden encounter between, what looks like opposite sides; what can also be seen in the first line with the words beating still, which can mean that the encounter or the rape started long before that when the swan was still in the air or even after, because the sings started to beat before and they are still beating, or as an opposition of movement and stillness. Until this moment it seems as if the reader was in Leda’s position, not knowing what or who is… He. So then, we realize what is happening.  Leda is staggering, caught, helpless, maybe since she didn’t spec this to happen, she is still. But then the personal pronoun appears, as an epiphany an arousal of awareness, so she fights, or attempts to.

And the second quatrain is a question, that may or may not be rhetorical, if it is and there’s nothing she can do, then we now she just attempts to fight. It is useless, she is terrified, loose, a helpless, human body laid under a strange, glorious, feathered god. In that white rush. Words that take us to the event and its consequences in the next stanza.

“A shudder (in the loins) engenders there…” The rape has finished.

The rape can also be represented as a broken wall, a burning roof. Words that also refer to the Trojan War, caused or engendered since this very moment. The dead of Agamemnon, which is caused or involved his wife Clytemnestra which closes the cycle.

And finally, may we go back to Leda’s point of view and question, was this god, aware of the consequences, and if so, why was he so indifferent about it. Or, if he wasn’t aware, was this indifference product of his pride?

LEDA AND THE SWAN
W.B. Yeats
A sudden blow: the great wings beating still	A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed	Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill.	By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill.
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.	He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.
How can those terrified vague fingers push	How can those terrified vague fingers push
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?	The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
And how can body, laid in that white rush,	And how can body, laid in that white rush,
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?	But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
A shudder in the loins engenders there	A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower	The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.	And Agamemnon dead.
Being so caught up,	Being so caught up,
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,	So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power	Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?	Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?

 

a)    The poem dramatizes a strange meeting: the bizarre and terrifying encounter between a god, in the guise of a beast, and a beautiful woman. Explore in your appreciation how the language of the poem reflects the strangeness of this meeting.

God/Beast (swan)	Beautiful woman (Leda)	The meeting (The rape)
Great wings	Staggering (girl)	Sudden (blow)
Dark webs	Thighs (caressed)	(White) Rush
Bill	Nape (caught)	Shudder (engenders)
Breast	Helpless (breast)	Broken wall
Feathered glory	Terrified, vague (fingers)	Burning roof (and tower)
Strange heart beating	Loosening (thighs)	Brute blood (of the air)
Indifferent (beak)	Body, laid