orts the idea of a hope Yeats harbored lies in the revision process . RichardEllman informs us that the poem went through several stages of revision. In earlierversions, Yeats portrayed the scene as an inarguable rape in which Leda is mounted(177). In the later, anthologized version of 1928, Leda has been given "loo seningthighs," suggesting a type of acquiescence on Leda's part. The implication for thisshift, then, in language and tone in the final version of "Leda and the Swan" is thatthe change is an example of Yeats displacing his fantasy that Maud Gonne woul deventually be swayed to engage him sexually and would become a willing, if passive,participant. In the earlier versions, Yeats was displacing his aggression. In thefinal revised version, Maud Gonne as Leda takes an active response role.Finally, "Leda and the Swan" is a violent poem and can be seen as Yeats's ownparticular rape fantasy; however, it remains an object of beauty. A close reading ofthe text focusing on the oppositions inherent within the poem, combined with anunderstand ing of the circumstances surrounding Yeats's spiritual marriage to Maud Gonneshows the poem to be a manifestation of the conflict between reality and ideal, humanand divine that Yeats spent years trying to reconcile. The poem allows Yeats todisplace h is violent fantasies concerning Maud, yet it does so in a structured,controlled manner (ensuring safety), and it allows Yeats to, finally, retain a certainamount of romantic hope. "Leda and the Swan" was Yeats's only realistic alternative tothe conflict in his life, and as a form of self therapy, it remains a nearly perfectwork of art. Works CitedArchibald, Douglas. Yeats. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 1983.Bhargava, Ashok. The Poetry of W.B. Yeats. Atlantic Highlands,N.J.: Humanities P, 1980.Brooks, Cleanth. "Yeats: The Poet as Myth-Maker." The Permanenceof Yeats. Ed. James Hall and Martin Steinmann. New York:MacMillan, 1950. 67-94.Ellman, ...
