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William Butler YeatsA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The Greek myth of Leda is referenced several times throughout the poem. In Greek mythology, Leda was an Aetolian princess who caught the attention of the God Zeus (not the first nor last to face this particular misfortune). Zeus came to Leda in the form of a swan, and from this union two children were born: Polydeuces, the hero, and Helen, who would go down in history as the beautiful woman who broke Troy. In “Among School Children,” Yeats uses the symbolism of Leda and the Swan to compare the woman of his imaginings—thought to be the woman Maud Gonne—to the beautiful Helen of Troy.
In the second stanza, he says “I dream of a Ledaean body” (Line 9), meaning a body like that of the princess Leda’s, and later, “even daughters of the swan,” (Line 20) referring to the daughter of Zeus in his swan shape. In the fourth stanza, the poet says, “And I though never of Ledaean kind / Had pretty plumage once” (Lines 29-30), suggesting that he could never compare to the beauty of Leda and her daughter Helen, though his bird shape was attractive enough. This repeated mythological motif gives the poem a sense of unity and joins the down-to-earth qualities of the classroom with the godly beauty and wonder of the poet’s daydreams.
By William Butler Yeats
A Prayer for My Daughter
A Prayer for My Daughter
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A Vision
A Vision: An Explanation of Life Founded upon the Writings of Giraldus and upon Certain Doctrines Attributed to Kusta Ben Luka
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Cathleen Ni Houlihan
Cathleen Ni Houlihan
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Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop
Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop
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Death
Death
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Easter, 1916
Easter, 1916
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Leda and the Swan
Leda and the Swan
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No Second Troy
No Second Troy
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Sailing to Byzantium
Sailing to Byzantium
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The Lake Isle of Innisfree
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
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The Second Coming
The Second Coming
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The Wild Swans at Coole
The Wild Swans at Coole
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When You Are Old
When You Are Old
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