What is the allusion in Leda and the swan?

What is the allusion in Leda and the swan?

The title is an allusion to the story of Leda being raped by Zeus. Zeus transforms himself into a swan, and the result of his rape impregnates Leda. She is also pregnant from her husband, and therefore is baring four children in her womb. This story continues to go on and ties in with the story of the Trojan War.

Did she put on his knowledge with his power?

“Did she put on his knowledge with his power Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?” She now carries with herself the knowledge of what is to come: destruction of the entire Greek civilization. The tables are turned while Leda not only gains the knowledge but also the power of “the indifferent beak,” Zeus.

Did she put on his knowledge with his power Before the indifferent beak could let her drop explain the lines?

The line- “Did she put on his knowledge with his power, Before the indifferent beak could let her drop” is an interesting metaphor for Leda taking part of Zeus into her children before he was able to withdraw from her.

How does the second coming reflect modernism?

The famous opening lines of “The Second Coming” demonstrate that the violence perceived during the era contributed to the troubled, anxious modernist outlook of the world. Thus the poem suggests that comprised within modernist anxiety is a perception of a chaotic modern world.

What literary devices are used in the Second Coming?

The Second Coming Literary Elements

  • Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View. The poem is written in the first person (though the speaker only mentions himself once)
  • Form and Meter. The poem is written in a very loose iambic pentameter, though it resembles free verse more in places.
  • Metaphors and Similes.
  • Alliteration and Assonance.
  • Irony.
  • Genre.
  • Setting.
  • Tone.

Who said the Centre Cannot hold?

W.B. Yeats

What does vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle mean?

Yeats is not optimistic. Or you can consider that Yeats is comparing the last 2,000 years of our young civilisation to a single night of a vulnerable baby’s sleep, which is then ‘vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle. ‘ Here the rocking of the cradle is not pleasant and peaceful, but a metaphor for social upheaval.