Leda And The Swan is a motif from Greek mythology, in which Zeus came to Leda in the form of a swan and either raped or seduced Leda on the same night she slept with her husband.
"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
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?
(William Butler Yeats)
I don't remember where I first learned about this, but I'm sure it couldn't have been in high school..and the redhaired romanesque lady portrait looks like me and it made me smile...
ReplyDeleteI'd read about Leda And The Swan a few years ago. I think I'd originally heard about this myth from an Italian-language teacher of mine. I've always liked Greco-Roman mythology and paganism, and this myth has always struck me as being very sexy, and the artwork is lovely.
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