![]() Yeats could have easily made this poem into a traditional sonnet with fourteen lines, but he chose to emphasize a moment in the story of Leda. This is related to the theme of the poem because rape is also something that is against the norm. The addition of an extra line within the poem makes it experimental, out of the ordinary, and against the norm. A sonnet has a fixed form of fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter, but this poem has fifteen. The deviance from what is normally deemed appropriate for a sonnet portrays the uneasiness and confusion of the situation.Īside from Yeats’ change from the traditional romance inspired sonnet, his small deviation from fourteen lines to fifteen also lends towards the aura of tension within the poem. ![]() By telling the story of a rape within the confines that are usually reserved for romance, the message of the poem gives mixed signals and causes tension.What is supposed to be about love, is about violence, violation, and obsession which implies that the story of Leda and the Swan is about the tension and discombobulated feelings aligned with rape and the irony of physical intimacy equating to love. Yeats’ sonnet deviates from the idea of love and instead focuses on the tragedy of rape. The traditional sonnet is generally reserved for writing about love, like the poetry composed by William Shakespeare and Petrarch. Though “Leda and the Swan” is written in sonnet form, it does not fit every single rule perfectly which enforces the tension of the poem. ![]()
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