W.B. Yeats and Other Accounts of Leda

In the poem “Leda and the Swan” by W.B. Yeats, the impregnation of Clytemnestra’s and Helen’s mother is depicted.  This portrayal of the rape does not seem gruesome at first, but when paying attention to the context and tone, turns out to be quite dark.  Leda’s neck is “caught” in Zeus’s bill and he “holds her helpless breast upon his breast.”  The second stanza of the poem reminds me of questions rapists ask when a girl reject them, as “how can those terrified vague fingers push the feathered glory from her loosening thighs?” is rather reminiscent of “how can you reject me?”  Yeats even identifies this rape as the moment Troy becomes doomed—the rape of Leda is the rape of Troy, with Helen as the agent.  Agamemnon is even killed by this act, as Clytemnestra is the byproduct.  Therefore, this depiction of the rape is dark and gruesome.  Which leaves me with the question: why is every other piece of art depicting this blatant rape so ambiguous about the consent?  Whenever you simply look up “Leda and the Swan,” dozens upon dozens of paintings come up, where Leda is playfully gazing at the Zeus swan as shown in Pier Francesco Mola’s depiction, or nuzzling the swan with a loving look as Fesch Ajaccio shows.  It’s absolutely unbelievable how this rape has been transformed into a sensual, loving, or playful scenario when Yeats, in fact, says exactly what the swan is committing—rape.