WHAT ROLE DOES EROTICA PLAY IN THE POETIC PRINCIPLE? (an erotic poem and some engaging artworks)

 

 

Discussion: (Duo Choices)

1.The first stanza is about a  A. rape scene_______. B. scene of Leda playfully engaged with a swan_______.

2.There is a blending of syllables in the  A. first line_______. B. second line________.

3. The blending of syllables occurs at A. staggering_______. B. beating_______.

4. “Feather glory” here in the second stanza is a metaphor for  A. the male sexual organ________.  B. the female sexual organ_______.

5. The second stanza tells us that Leda finally  A. succumbs to_______ B. resists_______the seduction of the swan.

6. Her succumbing to resist further is due to  A. her inability to ward off brute force_______. B. the seduction fostered by Zeus’ powerful masculinity. C. both A and B_______.

7. The third stanza appears to be rather hard at first glance. Nevertheless, its meaning and its metaphoric value would be more forthcoming if we are better versed in Greek Mythology. It simply says that through the swan’s sexual climax, Leda subsequently gave birth to four twins. Of those,the twin daughters were Helen and Clytemnestra, both of whom had caused great havocs in a famous episode of Greek History. Helen abandoned her husband, King Menelaus and eloped with Paris to Troy, causing the Trojan War. Later, Clytemnestra murdered her husband, the Greek king Agamemnon, after the latter’s return from Troy.

8. The last four lines of the third stanza, when written in prose, would probably run like this:

      Being so overwhelmed by the swan, did she get transformed and assume the aspects of a goddess, with all the glory transmitted by Zeus until she was finally separated from the coupling– like a spent item? 

       Do not forget that this legend is about a certain “god-human” union. The poet probably toys with the concept of one-ness being realized at the moment of the sexual intercourse–i.e. the Yin and Yang realization. “The brute blood of the air” is Yeats’ metaphor for the swan– also, a hint is dropped here referring to that union of blood as a result of copulation. “Indifferent” prompts my interpretation of “a spent item.”

      What I enjoy about the rhyming can be found located in the first stanza: “…her thighs caressed…He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.” That set of rhyming (caressed-helpless-breast-upon his breast) is so well reinforced that the erotic element in the poetry has been tremendously intensified.

      The second stanza yields the beauty found at the heart of the swan’s seduction for Leda by way of explaining why the latter has yielded to his power –not just due to physical force, but also this:

                     “And how can body, laid in that white rush, 

                      But feels the strange heart beating where it lies?” 

These two lines serve not only to explain the reason why Leda had succumbed to the masculinity of Zeus but also successfully convince us of the power of that masculinity.

9. The characterization of “ brute blood of the air”  by the poet for the swan is amazingly and powerfully resonating merely fom the utterance of that title alone. That title conveys an image of a creature that is powerful, brutal, rough, relentless and one who dominates the sky–at least in terms of moving around.  

 

Here are two more examples of erotic art: