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Helen Of Troy Poem Analysis

Helen of Troy Poem Analysis In Greek Mythology, Helen of Troy was the daughter of Zeus and Lead and was Infamously known as the most beautiful woman on earth. Her beauty Is claimed to be utterly amazing to those who behold her, but this beauty also causes various problems, such as causing the Trojan War when Paris takes Helen for himself from the Spartan king Menelaus.

Thus, various questions arise about her beauty, most specifically regarding the worth or harm of such a beauty. In fact, in Edgar Allen Pope’s To Helen and Hills Doolittle Helen, the two poems express two contrasting sages involving Wheel’s beauty using literary elements such as tone, diction, the authors background, different stanza form, and Imagery. At a first glance at the two poems, the difference in tone clearly shows the contrasting themes of the two poems.

In Pope’s poem, diction such as “brilliant”, “glory’, and “grandeur” helps to establish a Joyful and revering tone, and by comparing Helen to ships and people returning to their native land as well as Psyche (the human soul who married Cupid), it is clear that the speaker’s tone and attitude toward Helen Is venerating and positive towards her exceeding beauty. However, the tone in Doolittle poem is quite different.

While Poe uses positive diction, Doolittle uses diction such as “hates”, “reviles”, and “past ills”, to suggest that there Is an alternate view of Helen – that her beauty can be a cause of strife and hatred towards Helen, contradicting the glorifying message of Poe. Thus, merely through differences in tone and diction, the reader can already sense the differences of opinion between Poe and Doolittle, and it is clear that the speaker in To Helen has supreme admiration of Helen and her beauty, while the speaker In Helen sees the negative aspects and effects of her beauty that can cause hatred and revulsion.

Furthermore, merely the background of the author In the poem most likely has an effect on the differences in themes of the two poems. For the first poem, Edgar Allen Poe is a male who never experienced the World Wars. First of all, Pope’s lack of experience with war is represented in his poem – while the effects of Wheel’s beauty are twofold, he most likely chooses to emphasize the poem on her beauty Instead of war because he has never fully understood the violence, pain, and suffering that war can be and Is, thus, more Ignorant and less sensitive to the war-causing side of

Wheel’s beauty. In addition, his gender also serves as an indication for his emphasis. First of all, similar to his lack of experience with war, males are usually promoted from a young age with the glory of war through movies, games, and more (such as through Hollywood). Thus, the fact that he is male possibly serves as a reason as to why he Is less sensitive to violence.

In Dalton, males are typically more often attracted to females more than females are attracted to the same gender and, thus, while a female may have an objective view on a female’s looks and their affects, It Is ore likely that a male will be more lustful and emphasize a woman’s beauty over their effects. In contrast, for the second poem, Doolittle Is a female who has experienced violent, full-scale wars. Thus, as stated before, Doolittle is more likely to give an objective view of Wheel’s beauty due to her gender. ND also Is more sensitive tend to be less favorable to military spending and war than men, helping to explain why Doolittle is more sensitive to war and, thus, why Pope’s poem emphasizes Wheel’s beauty, while Doolittle poem emphasizes Wheel’s war-causing effects. In addition, the stanza form used also helps to contribute to the messages of the various poems. In Pope’s poem, the form used is iambic tetrameter and also uses a varying rhyme scene.

While it may not seem important, the meter and rhyme actually contributes to the flow of the poem in order to relate it to the glorifying theme. By having an iambic meter, it simulates the flowing, natural speech of humans. Without this natural, flowing meter, the poem would seem unusual and choppy in a way that would contradict the beauty of Helen. Similarly, the rhyme scheme helps the beauty y making the poem flow more easily and gives it a song-like sound and feeling, allowing the beauty of Helen described in the poem to corroborate with the beauty of the flow of the poem itself.

On the other hand, in Helen, an alteration of standard blazon form is used. In standard blazon form, verses focus on the various parts of a woman’s body, usually in a somewhat lustful manner. However, in Helen, while it still focuses on the parts of Wheel’s body such as her face, and hands, it describes them in a different manner. The poem describes her as having “white hands” and “white ace” and that, instead of being full of life and color, she “grows wan and white”.

By using this blazon format, the reader expects a lustful and admiring attitude towards Helen, but instead, Doolittle uses the blazon format to transform Helen into a cold and deathly corpse. Thus, by using the blazon format, Doolittle helps spread the theme that, contrary to the expected and common view of the beauty of Helen, her beauty and looks are actually deathly and malicious. Similarly, sentence structure is used to show the messages of the two poems.

In Pope’s To Helen, the sentence structure is very long and flowing and, as mentioned before, makes the flowing beauty of Helen seem apparent through the poem. In addition, uses exclamations such as “the agate lamp within they hand! ” and “Ah, Psyche, from the regions which Are Holy-Land! ” These exclamations show that, even though the poem is meant to be long and flowing to replicate Wheel’s beauty, the speaker feels so rapturous and admiring of Wheel’s beauty that he cannot help but exclaim for Joy. In contrast, in Doolittle Helen, the sentence structure is cold, slow, short, and direct.

By breaking up the sentence into small sections such as “All Greece dates” and “the still eyes in the white face”, it makes each section easily understandable to the reader and makes it seem less of a fantasy – by making each section short and concise, it makes it seem more direct and true. Thus, this short section structure allows the speaker in Doolittle poem to clearly express to the reader how terrible Wheel’s beauty truly is by making each section short straightforward and difficult to deny or misunderstand. Imagery also was used to augment the message of the poems.

In To Helen, Poe uses imagery to describe various beautiful things and compares them to Helen in order to show the extent of her beauty. He compares her to ships returning home “o’er a perfumed sea”, describes her “hyacinth hair, [her] classic face”, and proclaims her as a “statue-like” and beautiful person comparable to Psyche. Through this imagery, you can see that she is appealing to the senses by being compared to a that Helen is something to be revered and honored. However, the imagery in Helen is quite different.

In Helen, Helen is said to have a very pale complexion that “grows wan and white”, showing that, as mentioned before, Helen seems to be lifeless and unappealing. In addition, at the very end it says that the people of Greece will be pappy only when she is laid “white ash amid funereal cypresses”, showing how much Helen is despised – so much that people are already descriptively imagining her funeral. Thus, through the imagery in Helen, Helen is not the vivacious and beautiful woman from Pope’s poem, but is, on the contrary, lifeless, disagreeable, and considered better off dead by the people of Greece.

It is clear that literary devices are important in expressing the messages of various poems. In Pope’s To Helen, the positive and worshipping tone, flowing meter and rhyme, as well as sensual imagery allowed the message of the beauty of Helen to be expressed to readers. Meanwhile, in Doolittle Helen, the negative and abhorring tone, lifeless and deadening imagery, and blazon format show that her beauty also has a dark side that can lead to conflict and death. Thus, these literary devices help to increase a contention of Helen.

The utterly exalting message of Poe furthered by the literary device may more convincingly lead some to believe that Wheel’s beauty is something to be Joyful and Jubilant for, worthy of a poem Just to describe and compare her beauty, while the negative and dangerous message of Doolittle scribed through the literary devices clearly reveals that beauty can create violence, such as the violence from the War with Troy, causing disgust because so much harm and death can be caused merely from the beauty of a woman. Imagery also was used to augment the message of the poems.

In To Helen, Poe uses imagery to describe various beautiful things and compares them to Helen in order to show the extent of her beauty. He compares her to ships returning home “o’er a perfumed sea”, describes her “hyacinth hair, [her] classic face”, and proclaims her as a “statue-like” and beautiful person comparable to Ewing compared to a perfumed sea and a hyacinth, and is considered like Psyche and a statue, showing that Helen is something to be revered and honored. However, the imagery in Helen is quite different.

In Helen, Helen is said to have a very pale complexion that “grows wan and white”, showing that, as mentioned before, Helen seems to be lifeless and unappealing. In addition, at the very end it says that the people of Greece will be happy only when she is laid “white ash amid funereal cypresses”, showing how much Helen is despised – so much that people are already descriptively imagining her funeral. Thus, through the imagery in Helen, Helen is not the vivacious and beautiful woman from Pope’s poem, but is, on the contrary, lifeless, disagreeable, and considered better off dead by the people of Greece.

It is clear that literary devices are important in expressing the messages of various poems. In Pope’s To Helen, the positive and worshipping tone, flowing meter and rhyme, as well as sensual imagery allowed the message of the beauty of Helen to be expressed to readers. Meanwhile, in Doolittle Helen, the negative and abhorring tone, lifeless and deadening imagery, and blazon format show that her beauty also has a dark side hat can lead to conflict and death. Thus, these literary devices help to increase a contention of Helen.

The utterly exalting message of Poe furthered by the literary device may more convincingly lead some to believe that Wheel’s beauty is something to be Joyful and Jubilant for, worthy of a poem Just to describe and compare her beauty, while the negative and dangerous message of Doolittle described through the literary devices clearly reveals that beauty can create violence, such as the violence from the War with Troy, causing disgust because so much harm and death can be caused merely from the beauty of a woman.

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