"Leda and the Swan" and "This Be the Verse" comparison

The Inconsistency of the Human Mind in Leda and the Swan and This Be the Verse

• William Butler Yeats's Leda and the Swan depicts the dubious consensual sexual encounter between a shape-shifting Greek god and a woman.

•  Philip Larkin's This Be the Verse, on the other hand, describes how generations of tradition and family can affect one's life for years to come.

•  On the surface, both poems could not be more different. However, on a fundamental level, the two poems subtly illustrate a single, common theme: how larger forces can unbalance the human psyche, causing psychological distress. 

• Yet, where Leda and the Swan conveys a heightened level of distress within a certain moment, This Be the Verse illustrates distress that has been compounded over a lengthy period of time.

•  Leda conveys a level of psychological distress stemming from the fear of one quick, isolated, and overwhelming experience. The linguistic inconsistency in the poem suggests an ever-shifting, confused mind.

•  In contrast, This Be the Verse illustrates a degree of distress that has been slowly compounded over a lengthy period of time and ultimately stemming from a sense of anger. Here, the carefully composed language is riddled with intermittent bursts of crass language, indicating an underlying or subconscious furious mentality. 

• These seemingly different but equally powerful portrayals of distress are expressed through the inconsistencies within the structure, imagery, and language of the two poems. Yeats and Larkin achieve this effect by being contrary in their utilization of various forms or aspects of prosody, tropes, and rhetorical figures.

1. In Leda and the Swan and This Be the Verse, opposition between the thoughts of the subject or speaker and the structure of the poems illustrate the psychological distress of the human mind. 

1. The uniform stanzaic structure of each poem runs contrary to the noncommittal thoughts or actions of the primary subject and subject matter. For instance, in Leda and the Swan, the poem takes the form of a fourteen-line Petrarchan sonnet. Usually, such poems express romantic notions of love. 

1. In Leda and the Swan, however, the subject matter is quite the opposite. Rather than pure, true love, the poem depicts a violent, possibly non-consensual sexual encounter. 

1. The strict, regular metric pattern of the poem comes in opposition to the shifting descriptors of the speaker, leading to the poem's ambiguous atmosphere. For example, the poem's first line begins with a violent descriptor: “a sudden blow.” 

1. This would indicate a level of brutality and oppression, labeling the sexual encounter as rape. Yet, this belief is stricken when the Swan's genitals is almost exulted, described as “feathered glory” (line 6). Therefore, the poem's deliberate ambiguous nature lies in direct contrast to its rigid, set metrical pattern.

• Like Leda and the Swan, Larkin's This Be the Verse also conveys the psychological distress of the human mind through the inconsistencies between its structure and subject matter.

•  For example, the title of the poem assumes an archaic yet sophisticated Old English style that is in complete contrast to the lower level of diction found throughout the body of the poem. 

• Furthermore, the poems stanzaic unity and strict iambic tetrameter collides with its bipolar language. 
• For instance, the first line of the poem commences with a very harsh “They fuck you up” but ends with “mum and dad”—an ironic and biting sentimental expression. 

• The composed sarcasm here contrasts with he outbursts of “fuck” throughout the poem. Had the speaker truly believed his parents to be completely horrible, he might have substituted “mum and dad” for “mother and father.” The connotation behind “mum and dad” indicates a level of affection that lies in opposition to the speaker's belief that parents “fuck you up.” 

• This trend of inconsistency continues throughout the poem as the speaker changes his mind, stating that parents “may not mean to” negatively impact a child's life “but they do” (line 2) because “they were fucked up in their turn” (line 5) by “fools in old-style hats and coats” (line 6), or, in other words, their own “soppy-stern” (line 7) parents. 

• The speaker's biting tone in the usage of the phrase “old-style hats and coats” suggests an acerbic anger resulting from the hypocrisy of the appearance of manners and grace, so prevalent in his grandparents time, and the reality of household affairs—usually those of abuse, whether physical or verbal. 

• Also, The fact that the speaker uses the term “soppy-stern,” an oxymoron, is a clear indicator of the speaker's conflicted thoughts.

• Furthermore, in both poems, a series of oppositional elements within the usage of tropes convey the psychological distress of the subject or speaker

• .In Leda and the Swan, the utilization of abstract and concrete language through various instances of synecdoche depicts the erratic instability of the human mind when overwhelmed.

•  Language serves as one of the primary devices to reinforce the ambiguity of the poem. Like the reader, the speaker of the poem seems unwilling to put a definite label on the sexual encounter. 

• For example, at first glance, Leda is initially described using concrete words (Simon, Jessica). She is referenced to as “the staggering girl” and the poem refers to “her thighs,” “her nape,” “her helpless breast,” and “her loosening thighs” (lines 2-6). 

• However, the Swan is never called Zeus or even referred to as the Swan (Simon, Jessica). The Swan is described through synecdoches such as “great wings,” “dark webs,” “that white rush,” indifferent beak,” and “feathered glory” (lines 1-14).

•  Yet, a second, closer reading of the poem clearly illustrates that ambiguities are, indeed, present as the concrete and abstract merge (Simon, Jessica). Generalized terms are used later on to describe Leda, such as “terrified vague fingers”—another synecdoche (line 5) and concrete terms are used to reference the Swan, such as “his bill” (line 3), “his breast” (line 3), “his knowledge” (line 13) and “his power” (line 13). 

• In this poem, the speaker appears to assume the position of Leda and partake in her mentality. 

• As Leda’s mind shifts erratically in the face of this one particular taxing moment, the speaker’s language reflects that state of mind, evidenced through the phrase “terrified vague fingers.” 

• The word “terrified” seems to suggest that Leda's state of being—and, by extension, her though process—is being consumed by an all-encompassing fear. The abstract and concrete nature of the synecdoches within the poem is one of the prime examples of inconsistency throughout.

• Similarly, the usage of metaphor in This Be the Verse serves to express psychological instability, as well. 
• For instance, in lines 10 and 11, the speaker states that man “hands on misery to man” which continually “deepens like a coastal shelf.” 
• The peaceful, vibrant imagery embedded within the metaphor of a coastal shelf lies in contrast to the speaker's dark message. 
• As the image of the coast invokes a sense of vibrancy and abundance of life, the fact that the speaker encourages the reader to escape the cycle of misery by not having any children is ironic. 
• Like Leda, the trope used here acts as a mirror to the speaker’s state of mind. Yet, where the distress in Leda was the result of one singular quick and overpowering situation, the distress in This Be the Verse results from a slow and gradual culmination of anger. 
• The metaphor of the coastal shelf suggests a gradual yet structured erosion, mirroring the state of mind of the speaker. 
• The direct opposition between the imagery of the metaphor and speaker's message indicates a level of psychological distress.

• Lastly, the two poems contain a series of oppositional elements within the utilization of rhetorical figures which coveys the psychological inconsistency of an overwhelmed, fractured psyche. 
• In Leda and the Swan, there is an opposition between the hard alliterative sounds and soft consonance found within the poem. 
• For example, Leda and the Swan is riddled with the hard, alliterative “b” sound which can be found in the words “blow” (line 1), “beating” (line 1 and 8), “bill” (line 3), “breast” (line 4), “body” (line 7), “broken” (line 10), “burning” (line 10), and “brute blood” (line 12). 
• More than half of these “b” sounding descriptors are connotative of violence. In contrast, however, consonance within words like “still” (line 1), “bill” (line 3), “breast” (line 4), and “caressed” (line 2) have a softer ending or flow and invoke a sense of serenity and peace.

• In a similar manner, Larkin's This Be the Verse contains alliteration, as well. 
• However, in this case, the rhetorical figure lies in opposition to the poem’s level of diction. 
• For instance, words like “fuck” (line 1), “fill” (line 3), “faults” (line 3), and “fools” (line 6) add a musicality to the poem that is in direct contrast to the poem's drop in diction.
•  In order to counteract the drop in diction, the poem also contains a series of contrasting hard consonants and soft vowels. 
• For example, the harsh ending in “fuck” is balanced out by words such as “do” (line 2) and “you” (lines 3 and 4). 
• The opposition found within these elements seems to reinforce both poems’ subtle themes of psychological distress in the face of an overwhelming situation, person, or society.

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