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Leda and the Swan

(4) Base Camp

Most of the poem is taken up with images of sex between a human and a bird, and Yeats makes no efforts to hide "the facts of life" from his readers. Depending on your level of interest and/or curiosity in this swan business, you might find yourself wishing the poem were more vague. Still, the mythological references and the final two enigmatic lines can make this poem a bit challenging.