Literary Inheritance Molly McAtee College

What is literary inheritance? This is a concept that claims that authors receive the works of earlier authors, which they can implement and add on to in their own pieces. This is important for writers and literature, as it helps inspire future authors and continues the discussions that began with the previous authors. This creates an essential cycle in literature and furthers conversations, themes, and topics in order to keep them alive. If writers did not allow literary inheritance into their work, one would not have the plethora of opinions and studies that broadens and teaches the minds of the today’s readers. For instance, one pair of poems that shows the importance and progress of literary inheritance are two pieces created by Hilda Doolittle who published her work in 1921, and William Butler Yeats, who printed his piece in 1924. While the two pieces did not have much time pass between their publications, Doolittle’s “Leda” and Yeats’ “Leda and the Swan” show the power of literary inheritance through Yeats invoking the earlier ideas of Doolittle and adopting them into his own opinion.

One way that Yeats invokes the work of Doolittle is by glorifying Zeus, who is raping Leda in both poems. For example, Doolittle describes...