The Swan

The classical myth of Leda and the Swan is alluded to several times throughout the poem, first when the speaker says he “dream[s] of a Ledaean body” (Line 9). Later, he refers to this woman as one of the “daughters of the swan” (Line 20) and reflects that he himself has never been “of Ledaean kind” (Line 29). These are references to the Greek story of the princess Leda, who was seduced by the god Zeus in the form of a swan; she then gave birth to the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Troy. In this way the speaker uses the image of the swan to compare his love to this mythic woman.

The Chestnut Tree

In the final lines of the poem, the speaker uses an image of a chestnut tree to symbolise life and all its potential. He asks, rhetorically, “O chestnut...