When was leda and the swan by yeats written

This single act, Yeats tells us, brings about the Trojan War and, with it, the end of Greek civilisation and the dawn of a new largely Christian age. Because in raping Leda, Zeus made her conceive Helen of Troy, whose beauty would bring about the outbreak of the Trojan War. This is a great cataclysmic moment in history merging history with myth for Yeats.

Yeats was interested in such momentous events. He believed that civilisation progressed on a cycle, where each epoch lasted roughly two millennia. In 2, BC, the violation of Leda by Zeus as a swan inaugurated the next epoch; 2, years later, the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary would signal the arrival of a new era. Zeus assaults at once. Swans, the story goes, mate for life, so although this overture is unlooked-for, there is a suggestion of its permanence too.

Does it suggest that Leda should have learned from her experience with Zeus, and that what follows — the Trojan War, begun because of a woman she brought into the world — is partly her fault? It remains a baffling question, with no clear answer. As well as giving birth to Helen of Troy, Leda will also conceive Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon; Clytemnestra will later kill her husband, after the Trojan War, for sacrificing their daughter in exchange for fair winds from the gods.

When Zeus overcame Leda with his divine power during the moment of his assault, did he also impart foreknowledge of what this event would cause, before — once it was all over — he dropped her, having done what he came to do?

William Butler Yeats is one of the greatest of all Irish poets. A barbaric act has been perpetrated by this beautiful if sinister bird, a god in disguise, the god of gods in the guise of a pure white swan. The descriptive language continues and intensifies in the form of two mostly iambic questions, focusing on Leda's predicament as the swan advances. This is serious stuff.

Zeus is all powerful and intent on impregnating the helpless female, who seems unable to ward him off. Feminists raise the alarm at this point, for here we have the blatant rape of an innocent girl, which they see as symbolic of the exploitation of females by the males, by patriarchal society. A shudder The orgasm occurs and with it the engendering of a future war - the seige of Troy, occurring in the Trojan War, a 10 year conflict between the kingdoms of Troy and Greece.

So Leda is responsible indirectly for all that follows because she gave birth to Helen, who caused the Trojan War when abducted from her husband Menelaus by Paris.

It's all quite complicated but what the poem is trying to say is that the consequences of one act can have devastating repercussions. Agamemnon was the husband of Clytemnestra born to Leda , but she ended up killing him when he returned from the war a hero.

Marine Biology. Electrical Engineering. Computer Science. Medical Science. Writing Tutorials. Performing Arts. Visual Arts. Student Life. Vocational Training. Standardized Tests. Online Learning. Social Sciences. Legal Studies. Political Science. Welcome to Owlcation. Yeats's life, with a focus on his development as a poet.

Leda and the Swan in Art — A round-up of just some of the many interpretations of the story of Leda and the Swan in visual art. Encyclopedia Mythica — A helpful resource for more information on mythical figures referenced by the poem, including Leda, Zeus, and Agamemnon.

Among School Children. An Irish Airman Foresees his Death. A Prayer for my Daughter. Easter, Sailing to Byzantium. The Lake Isle of Innisfree. The Second Coming. The Song of Wandering Aengus.

The Wild Swans at Coole. When You Are Old. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does.