William Butler Yeats

After reading William Butler Yeats’ poem “Leda and the Swan,” I was somewhat disturbed. This poem is about Zeus’s rape of Leda. It was quite disturbing to me, since Zeus used such a beautiful innocent creature to rape this woman. He begins the poem right away with the rape, “A sudden blow: the great wings beating still.” The reader can tell that it was forceful, and that Leda was quite terrified. She was a helpless mortal being raped by the most powerful god, and she had no idea it was Zeus. Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra were the products of the rape. The way Yeats wrote this poem made it so real; my heart is still pounding in rage and fear. It was a powerful poem, but quite disturbing.