Reading Response 11

For my annotation, I mainly focused on the selected poem by Dimitris called “Leda,” which seemed to be an allusion to the Greek myth of Leda and the swan (Zeus). I was especially interested in this one because, despite the poem being titled “Leda,” there is no Leda or woman mentioned or depicted in the poem. The main subject of the poem is the red winged swan, who is acting upon the indirect object, the lily. I found this a really poignant way of communicating the objectification of women, as well as the understanding of scale of power and fear; in this metaphor a person is like a flower, and a god is like a large and powerful bird. The lily is being acted upon/subjugated/opening up, alluding to an unwanted or uninvited sexual/nonconsensual encounter being depicted in the Greek myth.