Interpretative challenge 34: Leda / Λήδα
Leda, the queen of Sparta seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan is a frequent subject of poets. You may want to read up on her story before tackling this challenge. Consider the following poems. How does each poet use Leda? What aspects of her story are used? What is the effect of using a Greek mythological character?
We have already seen Prothalamion by Edmund Spenser. Additional examples:
by H.D.1:
Leda
Where the slow river
meets the tide,
a red swan lifts red wings
and darker beak,
and underneath the purple down
of his soft breast
uncurls his coral feet.Through the deep purple
of the dying heat
of sun and mist,
the level ray of sun-beam
has caressed
the lily with dark breast,
and flecked with richer gold
its golden crest.Where the slow lifting
of the tide,
floats into the river
and slowly drifts
among the reeds,
and lifts the yellow flags,
he floats
where tide and river meet.Ah kingly kiss–
no more regret
nor old deep memories
to mar the bliss;
where the low sedge is thick,
the gold day-lily
outspreads and rests
beneath soft fluttering
of red swan wings.
by William Butler Yeats2:
Leda And The Swan
A sudden blow: the great wings beating still Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, He holds her helpless breast upon his breast. How can those terrified vague fingers push The feathered glory from her loosening thighs? And how can body, laid in that white rush, But feel the strange heart beating where it lies? A shudder in the loins engenders there The broken wall, the burning roof and tower[20] And Agamemnon dead. Being so caught up, So mastered by the brute blood of the air, Did she put on his knowledge with his power Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
by Katherine S. Maurer3:
Leda’s House
Helen sits cross-legged on the sagging sofa, wonders
Who she will take to the dance, paints her nails glitter pink.
She studies the flawless skin on one hand, adjusts a cuticle.
She hears her mother singing low, clinking dishes in the sink
When Clytemnestra in her black jeans bangs out the screen door.
\Mama still murmurs, curses low when the sky opens
Through her perfect false teeth.
Her own fell out during pregnancy, 15 years
Of green beans and secondhand coats ago.
She was 17 then, still felt a phantom soreness
In the night, a beak at her throat,
The mud hanging heavy in her hair
While her deficient teeth crumbled
To build smooth round bones for Helen
Who knows these things.
When Helen looks into the eyes of the boys at school
They are gliding away from her.
She plucks her eyebrows and wonders
What dark wing beat, what purer clay
Regular girls come from.
by Felix Ruben Garcia Sarmiento4:
Antes de todo, ¡gloria a ti, Leda!
Antes de todo, ¡gloria a ti, Leda!
tu dulce vientre cubrió de seda
el Dios. ¡Miel y oro sobre la brisa!
Sonaban alternativamente
flauta y cristales, Pan y la fuente.
¡Tierra era canto, Cielo sonrisa!Ante el celeste, supremo acto,
dioses y bestias hicieron pacto.
Se dio a la alondra la luz del día,
se dio a los búhos sabiduría
y melodía al ruiseñor.
A los leones fue la victoria,
para las águilas toda la gloria
y a las palomas todo el amor.Pero vosotros sois los divinos
príncipes. Vagos como las naves,
inmaculados como los linos,
maravillosos como las aves.En vuestros picos tenéis las prendas
que manifiestan corales puros.
Con vuestros pechos abrís las sendas
que arriba indican los Dioscuros.Las dignidades de vuestros actos,
eternizadas en lo infinito,
hacen que sean ritmos exactos,
voces de ensueño, luces de mito.De orgullo olímpico sois el resumen,
¡oh, blancas urnas de la armonía!
Ebúrneas joyas que anima un numen
con su celeste melancolía.¡Melancolía de haber amado,
junto a la fuente de la arboleda,
el luminoso cuello estirado
entre los blancos muslos de Leda!
by Osvaldo González Real5
Leda
de Osvaldo González Real
¡Antes de todo, gloria a ti, Leda!
Tu dulce vientre cubrió de seda
el Dios. ¡Miel y oro sobre la brisa!
RUBÉN DARÍO
Lenguas de fuego
calcinaron
las flores rojas de la carne.
Era la primera noche del mundo.
Soñabas
con la muerte blanca
del cisne que navega tu sangre
cuando un dios malicioso
te abandonó al silencio
para sufrir
el dulce suplicio de mis flores.
Abraza con amor las plumas
del lento abanicar nocturno
y déjame arrullar con mano tierna
tus palomas morenas.
Así los dos
y la luna apagada
repetiremos los apocalipsis olvidados
revolcando mundos
en un eterno rito de amor
bajo las alas del Cisne.
by Rainer Maria Rilke6:
Leda
Als ihn der Gott in seiner Not betrat,
erschrak er fast, den Schwan so schön zu finden;
er ließ sich ganz verwirrt in ihn verschwinden.
Schon aber trug ihn sein Betrug zur Tat,
bevor er noch des unerprobten Seins
Gefühle prüfte. Und die Aufgetane
erkannte schon den Kommenden im Schwane
und wusste schon: er bat um Eins,
das sie, verwirrt in ihrem Widerstand,
nicht mehr verbergen konnte. Er kam nieder
und halsend durch die immer schwächre Hand
ließ sich der Gott in die Geliebte los.
Dann erst empfand er glücklich sein Gefieder
und wurde wirklich Schwan in ihrem Schoß.
translation:
When driven by his need the god trod near
the threshold of the noble swan, its grace
perplexed him. Rash he vanished in its space,
already plotting an imposture dear.Oblivious of the feelings of his feathered host,
adventurous Zeus pressed on, while Leda sensed
the restless god beneath the plumed disguise
and fretted what she knew he wanted most.Resist she would, at first, but could she ever
hide her own confused desire? Alighting
next to her, he wove his neck through ever
weaker hands and conquered her anon.
He revelled in his plumage white, delighting
in her womb, where truly he became a swan.
You may also wish to consider:
- Leda by Mona Van Duyn
- Leda, After the Swan by Carl Phillips
- Leda by S. E. Horsley
1. American Poems
2. The Literature Network
3. (previously available at poetry.com) Copyright © 1998 held by Katherine S. Mauer
4. Ciudad Seva
5. Leda y el cisne
6. individuals’s website
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