Yeats’ “Leda and the Swan”: A Myth of Violence
Yeats’ “Leda and the Swan”: A Myth of Violence

Summary/Abstract: W. B. Yeats’ "Leda and the Swan", first published in the Dial in 1924, is an example of Irish poetry drawing on Classical Greek and Latin texts to create a commentary on the political atmosphere in Ireland. The poem is based on the story of Leda, who was raped by Zeus in the form of a swan and later gave birth to Helen of Troy. In Yeats’s poem, Leda represents Ireland, forcefully violated by a foreign power — Great Britain. The present study reviews mythological as well as political aspects of Yeats’ “Leda and the Swan” and investigates the act of violence in the poem.

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