Leda and the swan

Cultural

The subject of a story from classical mythology about the rape of Leda, a queen of Sparta, by Zeus, who had taken the form of a swan. Helen of Troy was conceived in the rape of Leda.

Discover More

W. B. Yeats wrote a famous poem entitled “Leda and the Swan.”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Leda and the swan

Leonardo could bring a steely exactitude and transparent freshness of observation to a botanical drawing, like the star-of-Bethlehem plant that he drew as a study for his lost painting of Leda and the swan.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023