Leda and the Swan – William Butler Yeats

Yeats’ Leda and the Swan is based on the Greek myth where the god Zeus came to Leda, the Queen of Sparta, in the form of a swan and raped her. Leda gave birth to eggs and hatched her children, Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. The first stanza of this sonnet starts out with Zeus’ aggressive force, “A sudden blow: the great wings beating still” and Leda’s helplessness, “By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.” (pg. 1125)

The second stanza in the octave goes into detail about the sexual encounter in this bizarre story. The first line in the sestet signifies the turning point, the climax, in the story. “A shudder in the loins engenders there.” But the story doesn't end there.

First, let me give a little background info regarding the Trojan War. (This is not part of the poem.) The story goes that Helen of Troy, Leda and Zeus’ daughter, was the most beautiful woman in the world. Helen was married to Menelaus, but was abducted by Paris and taken to Troy. This started the Trojan War. You probably know the story of the Trojan Horse, the giant wooden horse filled with Greek warriors. The Trojans thought the horse was a sign of surrender, so they brought it inside the city gates, and began celebrating their victory. Later that night, the Greek warriors emerged from the horse, opened the gates letting the rest of the Greek warriors in, and they proceeded to destroy the Trojan soldiers and burn the City of Troy.

Thus, line 10: “The broken wall, the burning roof and tower.”

Leda’s other daughter, Clytemnestra, was married to Agamemnon. Agamemnon was the leader of the Greek soldiers during the war. While he was away at war, Clytemnestra took another lover and together they plotted to kill Agamemnon when he returned from war.

Line 11: “And Agamemnon dead."

So, one could surmise that the Trojan War and Agamemnon's murder were an indirect result of Leda and Zeus' union.

The last three lines of the sonnet are unclear in their meaning. “Being so caught up, So mastered by the brute blood of the air,” This refers to Zeus' forceful molestation. “Did she put on his knowledge with his power Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?” Did Leda gain any of Zeus' power and knowledge from the affair? Zeus is portrayed as being indifferent when it was finished. But the events that followed were very powerful.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock – T. S. Eliot

The title of this poem is ironic, because it is not a love song at all. It is more of a self-loathing song. The speaker reveals his personal thoughts and internal conflicts. Prufrock is very pensive and overanalyzes everything. He is insecure, self-conscious, and indecisive. At the beginning of the poem he contemplates whether to go to tea to meet a lady. In line 55 Prufrock lets us know he has been over this scenario in his head before: "For I have known them all already, known them all." The women have seen him before too, and they evaluated him like he was pinned to the wall on display. Prufrock has a very negative self-image and believes that he will be rejected by the ladies. He tries to prepare himself psychologically by speculating on what would happen if he decides to go. “And time yet for a hundred indecisions, And for a hundred visions and revisions, Before the taking of a toast and tea” (lines 32-34). He imagines himself going into “the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo” (line 35) and questions “Do I dare? and, Do I dare?” (line 38). He is petrified by the mere suggestion of entering, so he imagines himself turning to leave. But now the women can see the bald spot on the back of his head. He imagines they will talk about his thinning hair and his thin arms and legs. He is afraid of what they will think about his clothes.

As he struggles with all the visions running through his head he reveals more about his personality. The poem alludes to different literary characters such as in line 82 where the speaker imagines his head being brought in on a platter. The text references Matthew 14 where John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod. In the next line the speaker clarifies “I am no prophet – and here’s no great matter.” In line 94 the speaker imagines himself saying “I am Lazarus, come from the dead, Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all.” This text references John 11 where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. But in line 104 Prufrock states “It is impossible to say just what I mean!” Is this because he feels so inadequate or inarticulate? In line 111 the speaker proclaims “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one that will do.” The speaker is not Lazarus or Prince Hamlet. He is a lowly attendant lord. “Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; At times, indeed, almost ridiculous – Almost, at times, the Fool” (lines 117-119). J. Alfred Prufrock sees himself as a shrunken old man with rolled up trousers.

Through the internal monologue, the speaker reveals his desires, fears, and his inferiority complex as he helplessly and hopelessly tortures himself. Would he tell the ladies he came through the grimy streets like a crab on the floor of the ocean? Would it be worth the torture he would have to endure to have tea and talk to a woman? Would it be worth it to put himself on display? Would they criticize him? His frustration, insecurities and cowardice cause him to retreat and remain trapped inside his own private world. He feels that his life has such insignificance that he has “measured out my life with coffee spoons” (line 51).

Virginia Woolf - Professions for Women (e-text)

Professions for Women spoke of Woolf's struggle with “the Angel in the House” who frequently intervened in an effort to keep her writing in line with society’s view of women. The Angel told Woolf that as a woman writer, she must always “be sympathetic; be tender; flatter; deceive; use all the arts and wiles of our sex. Never let anybody guess that you have a mind of your own. Above all, be pure.” The Angel kept getting in the way of Woolf’s writing, wasting her time, and provoking her until Woolf “caught her by the throat” and tried to kill her.

Woolf noted “Had I not killed her she would have killed me. She would have plucked the heart out of my writing.” The Angel was society’s expectation of what women should be - self-sacrificing, gentle, charming, flattering, and always willing to give of themselves for the benefit of others. Women were to rely on their pure, womanly virtues to take them through life and should never dare reveal their own minds.

Woolf went on to say the Angel “died hard” and the struggle continued as the “shadow of her wings fell on my page,” and she “heard the rustling of her skirts in the room,” in other words, the cultural limitations placed on women were always in the back of Woolf's mind. Woolf admitted that the Angel “was always creeping back when I thought I had dispatched her. Though I flatter myself that I killed her in the end, the struggle was severe…” “Killing the Angel in the House was part of the occupation of a woman writer.”

Woolf knew that in order to be a successful writer, she had to cast off society’s restrictions on what women should and should not write, and let her own thoughts and opinions come out. This was very hard for her as societal constraints were deeply ingrained in her. Woolf’s feminist outlook was a very unusual for her time. She challenged the norms and risked her female respectability by writing about topics never approached by women writers.

Tennyson - The Charge of the Light Brigade

After my last post on Wilfred Owen's anti-war position, and Rupert Brooke's pro-war position on World War I, I decided to go back and reread Tennyson's The Charge of the Light Brigade. Although Tennyson doesn't actually come out and say it, I think that he was in favor of the Crimean War effort and was cheering on the cause.

The Charge of the Light Brigade is the true story of a brigade of 600 British cavalry who were ordered to charge against Russian artillery forces into the “valley of Death” (pg. 615). Although the soldiers knew that “Some one had blunder’d” and that they would not be able take the enemy, they bravely complied with the order and did not question it. “Their’s not to make reply, Their’s not to reason why, Their’s but to do and die.”

The soldiers were besieged by cannon fire from all directions, but they courageously pushed forward “Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell.” They charged through the smoke of the cannons, through the enemy line, drew their swords, and attacked the Cossack and Russian enemy gunners. Then they rode back, but there were no longer 600 of them as many had been killed in the assault. Cannon fire came from behind them and on both sides of them. Many more soldiers and horses fell during the second barrage of shots and shells. The selfless and heroic few that made it back alive had completed their mission.

Tennyson repeats words to produce the feeling of the unyielding assault. “Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them” and “Flash’d all their sabers bare, Flash’d as they turn’d in air.” Other words add to the dramatic effect such as “storm’d,” “plunged,” “reel’d,” “shatter’d,” such that you can feel the action as you read. In this way, it is similar to the first section of Owen’s Anthem for Doomed Youth.

The last stanza states that all the world marveled at their courage. Their valiant efforts should never be forgotten and they should always be honored. I believe Tennyson felt that the war was justified and, even under incompetent command, the brave men of the British cavalry deserve to be regarded with the utmost respect.

Comparison of Wilfred Owen's Anthem for Doomed Youth and Rupert's Brooke's The Soldier

Wilfred Owen served on the front lines during the World War I and expressed his disdain for the war through his poetry that he wrote in the hospital after being wounded. Rupert Brooke also served during the war, but never saw active combat. In contrast to Owen, Brooke’s poems are idealistic, patriotic, and exalt the war.

Owen’s Anthem for Doomed Youth begins with the jarring image of men dying in battle, “who die as cattle.” This analogy conveys Owen’s contempt for the indignity of war by insinuating that the men have no more significance than cattle being slaughtered. The sounds of the “monstrous anger of the guns” are the soldiers’ only “passing-bells” and “the stuttering rifles rapid rattle” are their only prayers. Their only choir is the “shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells.” By using words such as “monstrous,” “shrill,” and “demented,” Owen emphasizes the horrors of the war and he suggests that the weapons are presiding over the deaths. The last line of the octave switches from the battlefield to the home front with “bugles calling for them from sad shires.”

Away from the noisy chaos of the battlefield, the sestet summons a mood of sadness and the solitude of a funeral where, instead of alter boys’ candles, there will be glimmering tears of good-byes. The pale faces of girls will be the palls on the coffins. The loved ones who patiently awaited the soldiers’ return from battle will take the place of flowers during the “drawing-down of blinds” as night falls.

The sonnet begins with the violence of war which Owen describes using a repetition of sounds, like “rifles’ rapid rattle” and “stuttering”, “rattle”, and “patter” which almost sound like the ratta-tat-tat of machine guns. The poem ends quietly with images of grieving and mourning. “And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds,” the last line of the poem, represents the finality of death, and the recognition that this scene will be recreated over and over.

In Brooke’s sonnet, The Soldier, a gallant soldier expresses his unconditional love for his country. The poem begins with the soldier saying that the foreign soil on which he died will forever be a part of England. The 5th line shifts the focus from the foreign land back to England where the soldier was shaped and nurtured. He touts his homeland and personifies England speaking of “her flowers to love, her ways to roam / Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day.” He gives his life in gratitude to his country that has given so much to him, so that England may endure and her people may find peace and comfort. The tone is blissful throughout the poem.

Comparison of Gerard Hopkins & Thomas Hardy

In the first 6 lines of Pied Beauty, Hopkins offers glory to God for dappled things – the colors in the sky, the brindled cows, the spotted trout, chestnuts as bright as coals, the wings of finches, the patchwork of the landscape. Here Hopkins observes the visual characteristics of things found in nature. Then he includes all the trades of man along with all the gear and equipment. These things are man-made, but they are still part of God’s creation.

In the sestet, Hopkins incorporates more things - all things contrary, original, rare, and strange, whatever is fickle or freckled – all of these qualities describe something that is distinctive or peculiar. Hopkins elaborates further to include qualities that describe speed, taste, aesthetics – “swift, slow, sweet, sour, adazzle, dim” (pg. 776) - all are things that God has created. “Praise him.”

Hopkins deviates from the traditional sonnet form of 14 lines to only 11 lines and uses a repetition of sounds – dappled, stipple, tackle, fickle, freckled; swift, slow, sweet, sour, adazzle, dim; couple-colour; fresh-firecoal; and fathers-forth. The poem begins and ends with praise to God. The message is that all of the diversity in nature and man is part of God’s design.

In contrast, Hardy’s Hap follows the traditional sonnet form of 14 lines. Hardy’s message is the opposite of Hopkin’s message. In the first 8 lines Hardy wishes that “some vengeful god would call to me /From up the sky, and laugh” (pg. 1073). He wants to know there is a god in heaven who enjoys seeing him suffer. He wants god to be accountable for his sorrow, which is god’s ecstasy, and for his love’s loss, which is god’s “hate’s profiting.” If he could blame god, he would clench himself and die strengthened by his anger, and his suffering would be eased by the knowledge that one more powerful than himself was responsible for his pain.

In the 9th line, the tone changes. “But not so.” There is no “vengeful god” to blame for his joy that “lies slain” and his hope that “unblooms.” “Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain” – Chance is responsible for his suffering and lost hope. Luck and time have caused his pain, and could just as easily have caused him happiness. There is no god controlling the universe, it all comes down to a roll of the dice.

Aestheticism

In the Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde provides an overview of his aesthetic philosophy. He disputes the idea that art should be meant to edify and enlighten, and contends that art has no purpose other than being beautiful. He says “Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming” (pg. 846). Wilde was rejecting the Victorian view that art should serve some moral or social purpose.

Wilde felt that art’s inherent value is its beauty, and its beauty alone. “Beautiful things mean only beauty.” Wilde states that “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.” Art is solely for pleasure, and not for any practical or moral purpose.

Artists are not out to prove anything in their art. Wilde cautions against going beneath the surface of art and trying to read more into it. “All art is at once surface and symbol” (pg. 847).

Wilde says that useful things should not be admired, and to that end, “All art is quite useless.”