Leda & The Swan

MaRk HePwOrThKyLe ScHeFfLeR

Characters

LedaWife of Tyndareus (king of Sparta) Mother of Helen, Clytemnystra, Castor, and

Polydeuces.The Swan The swan is a animal form that Zeus has taken to

fool Leda.

Summary

• Zeus disguises himself as a swan, swoops down upon Leda and knocks her on her back. She is scared and confused, and Zeus rapes her. It is presented in a fairly graphic manner and there is no mistaking his intention. This act is how Helen of Troy was conceived. After the act is done, the swan drops her to the ground and leaves.

Analysis

• This act is meant to be an indirect cause of the Trojan War, because this is how Helen was conceived.

• Leda may or may not have known a God was raping her, she was very confused and frightened.

• From Ancient Greek perspective, this act can be viewed as divine and mystical. From a modern perspective, it can be viewed as horrifying and disturbing.

Poem A sudden blow: the great wings beating still

Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressedBy the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.

How can those terrified vague fingers pushThe feathered glory from her loosening thighs?

And how can body, laid in that white rush,But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?

A shudder in the loins engenders thereThe broken wall, the burning roof and tower

And Agamemnon dead.

Being so caught up,So mastered by the brute blood of the air,

Did she put on his knowledge with his powerBefore the indifferent beak could let her drop?