More Yeats

Our Yeats discussions have been very thorough and interesting. He definitely had talent and as I said before, I love that he includes mythology into his poems. Although I don’t necessarily understand all the messages he is trying to convey from each of his poems (even after all of our in-class discussions) I do believe I have a firmer grasp on what angle he is coming from.

Out of all the poems we read and discussed in class so far, I would have to say that Leda and the Swan is my favorite. I tend to enjoy the shorter poems more because, not only do I have to use less brain power (not that I’m lazy and don’t want to use my brain) but I’m generally able to understand shorter poems more easily. I think this is because my mind doesn’t have to absorb a lot of facts and language that is generally gibberish. They are normally short and to the point.

I love the images I receive when I read Leda and the Swan. I’m not saying that I enjoy reading about someone supposedly being raped- I just like the word choices he uses and the way he paints a picture with his imagination. Even though the poem is supposed to be describing the rape of Leda there are a few words which don’t remind you of rape such as : great, caressed, glory, white. I know those aren’t the majority of the words in the poem, but the addition of the words sort of give the poem, in my opinion, a different vibe.

That’s probably one of the main reasons why I like this poems, and other’s like it. When a poet attempts to conjure up an image or a story, I tend to understand it better. When they are trying to argue some political point, the whole thing kind of goes over my head. I have more of a story telling brain.