This paper presents a close rhetorical analysis of W.B. Yeats' sonnet "Leda and the Swan," which draws on the Greek myth of Zeus' assault on the mortal Leda. The analysis traces how Yeats employs kinesthetic imagery, rhetorical questions, synecdoche, and extended metaphor to link sexual violence with the fall of Troy. The paper examines specific devices — including pun, euphemism, hyperbole, alliteration, and anticlimax — as they accumulate across the poem's movement from assault to consummation to falling action, ultimately arguing that Yeats presents one sexual act as a catalyst for historical catastrophe.
The Irish poet W.B. Yeats' poem "Leda and the Swan" revolves around a literary allusion to the myth of Zeus' affair with the mortal woman Leda, whom the god came to in the shape of a swan. Like a myth, the poem begins in media res — in the middle of the action — assuming that the reader understands the classical reference. It begins not with an explanation, but with a striking, kinesthetic image: "A sudden blow: the great wings beating still / Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed / by his dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, / He holds her helpless breast upon his breast." The repetition of the word breast highlights the sensuality of the bird's action. The "dark webs" of the bird's feet also carry a dual significance, functioning as a kind of pun on how Leda herself is caught in Zeus' web. The blow that begins the rape likewise foreshadows the war to come, which is referred to in greater detail later in the poem.
The poem suddenly unfolds in a burst of rhetorical questions, suggesting the overwhelming, thrusting power of the god in the form of the bird: "How can those terrified vague fingers push / the feathered glory from her loosening thighs? / How can anybody, laid in that white rush, / but feel the strange heart beating where it lies?" The "white rush" refers to the bird's sexual force. The feathers become a euphemism — a stand-in for the rape that is actually occurring — just as Leda's fingers, described pathetically as terrified and vague, are powerless to resist and become a stand-in for her attempt to extract herself from the god's embrace.
The nature of the questions — "how can anybody" — carries a hyperbolic intensity, suggesting that no one can possibly resist the force, strength, and glory of Zeus.
"Leda's assault foreshadows Troy's destruction"
"Sexual and military violence become mutual metaphors"
"Poem closes on Zeus's indifference and human knowledge"
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.