Leda and the Swan

E253985

"Leda and the Swan" is a sonnet by W.B. Yeats that vividly retells the Greek myth of Zeus’s rape of Leda, exploring themes of violence, power, and the origins of historical catastrophe.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Leda and the Swan canonical 2

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Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf poem
sonnet
author W. B. Yeats
linked to: W.B. Yeats

William Butler Yeats
linked to: W.B. Yeats
basedOnMyth Leda and Zeus
linked to: Leda
centralEvent rape of Leda by Zeus in the form of a swan
countryOfOrigin Ireland
featuresCharacter Leda
Zeus
swan
firstPublicationYear 1924
firstPublishedIn The Dial
imagery bird and flight imagery
sexual imagery
violent physical imagery
language English
laterCollectedIn The Tower
laterCollectionYear 1928
literaryForm Petrarchan sonnet
literaryMovement Modernism
meter iambic pentameter
mythologicalSource Greek mythology
narrativePerspective third-person description of encounter
notableFeature opens in medias res with the violent encounter already underway
uses myth to comment on modern historical crises
period 20th-century literature
relatedMythologicalFigure Castor and Pollux
linked to: Dioskouroi

Clytemnestra
Helen of Troy
relatedWorkByAuthor Easter 1916
linked to: Easter Rising

The Tower
rhymeScheme ABBA ABBA CDE DCE
setting mythic ancient Greece
symbolicallyLinkedTo Trojan War
cycle of historical violence
fall of Troy
linked to: Trojan War
theme divine intervention
fate and destiny
historical catastrophe
human agency
myth and history connection
origin of history
political violence
power
sexual violence
violence
tone disturbing
tragic
violent

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

W.B. Yeats notableWork Leda and the Swan
The Tower containsPoem Leda and the Swan