Two Views of Leda

Two of the poems for this class were about the Greek myth about Leda being ravished by Zeus in the form of a swan. Out of this is born Helen of Troy who then begins the Trojan War because of her amazing beauty. These poems, one by Yeats and the other by H.D., struck me as complete opposite by the tone that they give to the event. Yeats in his poem made it seem more violent and against her will. He also was the one to mention what became of the union. He mentioned the strife in the form of Helen of Troy and how she would tear nations apart and cause the death of many.
H.D. however gives the poem a more loving tone. She makes what happened seem wonderful and loving rather than harsh and hurtful to Leda. On the other hand, Leda is not mentioned in human form in the poem. She is seen as a lily pad that is flowering under the love of the red swan (Zeus). This seems odd because the title is simply "Leda" but the subject seems to be the red swan instead. As a woman at the time when they are just gaining the rights, it seems odd that she doesn't take the side that Yeats takes. She goes for the love rather than the violence that many suffragettes might have stated. H.D. does not end with the fear and suffering that Yeats includes at the end of his poem. Instead, she ends with happiness and "no more regret."
To me, these poems strike different notes to the reader. I favored the poem by H.D. because it seemed a more optimistic view of the situation. It is gentler and beautiful language pervades the whole so that I finished reading with the picture of a beautiful lake scene.
However, the poem by Yeats seems a much more realistic view of what would have happened in the myth. I also like that it does not end with the moment; it tells the future. As a reader, you not only see the struggle of the moment, but the struggle that will kill many in the years to come. It is almost as if there was a warning about rash actions by powerful men.
Though they both cover the same topic, the poems are radically different in both the tone of the poem itself and the tone of how you think of them after you finish reading.