Greek Mythology #12: LEDA & the SWAN

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Western Regional Button Association is pleased to share our educational articles with the button collecting community. This article appeared in the 2016 WRBA Territorial News. Enjoy! Please join WRBA! Go to www.WRBA.us WRBA gladly offers our articles for reprint, as long as credit is given to WRBA as the source, and the author. Greek Mythology #12: LEDA & THE SWAN by Joy Journeay Leda was the beautiful queen of Sparta. She was the daughter of an Aetolian king and the wife of a king of Sparta (although it is noted that there are five different versions of her parentage). She was a contemporary of Hercules, and her sons were part of the quest of the Argonauts. Leda became the mother of Helen of Troy and the twins, Castor and Pollux. However, we know her best on buttons from the story of her seduction by Zeus. Zeus admired Leda and deviously seduced her. While disguised as a swan, Zeus arranged to be in danger as he was pursued by an eagle. Leda embraced the swan to protect it from the eagle, and Zeus had the opportunity to consummate the Jasperware set in metal with prong set seduction. paste border. Medium. Division I. Collection of Byson Buttons. Leda had lain with her husband the same night, and soon delivered two sets of twins. As with most Greek myths, multiple versions exist regarding the father of the twins. Because Leda was mortal, and one father was mortal, and one father was mortal and one father was divine, the children could be mortal or half mortal. Consistent aspects of the story state that Pollux is half-mortal and Helen is the daughter of Zeus. One version says that Zeus laid with Helen’s mother Nemesis, and the resulting egg was found by a shepherd who gave it to Leda, who then raised Helen of Troy, although Leda was not her biological mother. Zeus did commemorate the birth of Helen by creating the constellation Cygnus. Stamped brass with original tint. Large. Collection of Lou Yeargain. Three buttons of Castor & Pollux, the “Gemini” twins of the zodiac. Medium Satsuma. Medium Birchcroft porcelain with transfer. Small ABS with black cold enamel DF. .

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Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com Leda and the Swan POEM TEXT THEMES 1 A sudden blow: the great wings beating still SEX AND VIOLENCE 2 Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed "Leda and the Swan" depicts an act of rape. The 3 By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, poem’s graphic imagery leaves no doubt that Zeus, in 4 He holds her helpless breast upon his breast. the form of a swan, violently assaults Leda. At the same time, however, the poem seems to revel in sensuality even as it lays 5 How can those terrified vague fingers push bare the brutality of Leda’s rape and its equally brutal 6 The feathered glory from her loosening thighs? consequence—the Trojan War. This ambiguous depiction of sexual violence is a central tension of the poem, and it is left 7 And how can body, laid in that white rush, unresolved. The poem neither condemns nor approves of 8 But feel the strange heart beating where it lies? Leda’s rape, but seeks instead to capture the complexity of the moment in light of its enormous mythological significance. 9 A shudder in the loins engenders there From the opening phrase, “A sudden blow,” it’s clear that the 10 The broken wall, the burning roof and tower god Zeus is violating the human Leda. Words such as 11 And Agamemnon dead. “staggering girl,” “helpless,” and “terrified” clearly articulate that 12 Being so caught up, Leda is taken by force. The fact that her thighs “loosen” 13 So mastered by the brute blood of the air, indicates that, at first, they were clamped together, and she 14 Did she put on his knowledge with his power tries (but fails) to “push” Zeus away.
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