The USA English Forum Blog

this poem uses vivid imagery throughout the entire poem. In the beginning, there is a swan who is in awe of this young girl. He wants to be as close to her as possible. She, on the other hand, does not accept the love he offers her. She is “terrified” and tries to get out of his grasp. When they use the word feathered glory, it seems as if the bird is a divine bird. Towards the end of the poem, it seems as though the swan has become indifferent and does not care about her as he did in the opening of the poem and lets her go.

Greek mythology at is best! Zesus disguised as a swan, rapes a young girl and impregnates her ( she later lays 4 eggs who turn into children).
The young woman is none other than - Helen of Troy, the beautiful, who starts a war and destroys a civilization ( Troy is one of my favorite movies).

The imagery is vivid.
The words are beautiful and exotic.

Greek mythology at its best!! Zesus, disguised as a swan, rapes a young girl and impregnates her ( she later lays 4 eggs who hatch into children).
The young woman is none other than - Helen of Troy, the beautiful, who starts a war and brings about the end of an era.
Very funky poem.

The imagery is vivid.
The words are beatuiful and exotic.
I like it.

I think this section refers to the battle, Helen husband (Agamemnon is dead) the walls are breached by the Trojan horse and the city burns.
But Helen is so caught up by the brute blood of the air, Zesus?, it seems that she is trying to capture his godness.

Interesting.

Ill be honest ill need to read a few more times to fully understand it but its obviously a ode to greek mythology as brenda said, its imagery is very sexual and vivid. it almost reminds me of of one of those romance novels you see in the grocery store.

I actually did not like this poem. The imagery was good, but the overall tone of the poem just seemed very cheesy to me. I agree with John, in that it almost reminds of some trashy romance novel. All of Keats’ talk of thighs and breasts is a bit much for me. He’s definitely not one of my favorite poets that we’ve studied so far. I guess it’s an interesting concept, a man in form of a swan raping a women. Still, it seems a little far-fetched and I guess I just find it hard to relate to.

It definitely reflects Greek Mythology. I don’t care for it that much, but I understand the basics of the poem. Agamemnon, I know that name from the movie Troy…is it the same here? I really think the sex in this poem is a little too much for my taste. I do not like the idea of the girl being raped and even worse the rapist impregnating her.

ohh, he is raping her. …….Good……. I thought he just liked her alot. I did not pick up on that.

Keats is pretty cool, but I’m like a good bit of the class in that I don’t particularly care for this poem, although I like Randi’s comment on all that talk on breast and thighs, and the fact that we are talking about a bird…I’m sure there’s a joke in there somewhere.

yeah…sex with animals is usually a pretty funny topic (TOTALLY kidding!)…but not when it comes to getting raped by them…