Leda and the Swan

sonnet by Yeats

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Article History

Leda and the Swan, sonnet by William Butler Yeats, composed in 1923, printed in The Dial (June 1924), and published in the collection The Cat and the Moon and Certain Poems (1924). The poem is based on the Greek mythological story of beautiful Leda, who gave birth to Helen and Clytemnestra after she was raped by Zeus in the form of a swan.

The poem details the rape of Leda with graphic imagery. At the climax of their sexual union, Yeats tersely outlines the fate of their lineage:

The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.

By alluding to Helen’s involvement with the Trojan War and Clytemnestra’s murder of her husband, Agamemnon, Yeats suggests that this initial act of violence engendered the later cataclysms.

Illustration of "The Lamb" from "Songs of Innocence" by William Blake, 1879. poem; poetry

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This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.