Leda and the swan



1. The poet plays with the story of Leda and Zeus by referencing to the story. Zeus turns into a swan and raped Leda causing her to bear her children while she is married to another man. In the poem, the allusions are made through bird like characteristics and sexual connotations.

2. Throughout the poem, there are several instances of imagery and diction. Examples include, "strange heart beating", "brute blood of air", and "terrified vague fingers". These rhetorical devices contribute to the poem by adding character and emotion or to enhance the readers imagination.

3.  Yeats uses many sexual phrases such as "her nape caught in his bill", "feathered glory from her loosening thighs" and "holds her helpless breast upon his breast". The speaker uses these phrases to explain, in detail, how Zeus raped Leda in form of a swan.

4. The speakers tone and attitude in the poem is quite enthusiastic and not quite depressing or somber.

5. All of the questions are most likely asked in this poem to make the reader question the idea of theme of the poem as well as what may happen next.

6. This poem is a sonnet with 14 lines and an iambic pentameter. The poem contains 2 stanzas with 4 lines and a final stanza with 6 lines and one separating it in half.