Leda and the Swan Transformation Quotes Page 1
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| Quote #1 the great wings beating still |
Zeus transforms himself into a swan in order to rape Leda, but he's not any ordinary swan. The "great wings" of the swan represent Zeus's superhuman power. When a mythical person or god changes form to become something else, the term is metamorphosis.
| Quote #2 And how can body, laid in that white rush, |
Zeus's transformation is so complete that Leda cannot recognize him: his heart feels "strange" or alien.
| Quote #3 A shudder in the loins engenders there |
The crucial point of historical transformation occurs when Zeus impregnates Leda with Helen of Troy. Yeats wants us to pay attention not just to the sexual act as a turning point, but literally to the exact moment of conception, represented by a "shudder" in the swan's loins. He traces a direct historical line from that moment to the destruction of the great ancient city of Troy.
