Helen of Troy

The abduction of Helen of Troy, the wife of Menelaus, by the Trojan Prince Paris, was the catalyst for the Trojan War. Because of the ambiguity of the occurrence, there exist feelings toward Helen that are at odds with one another. There are those who feel as though Helen was unjustly snatched while others believe she willingly followed Paris to Troy. Not only was the kidnapping a reason for fighting, it left conflicting roots of admiration and antipathy for Helen as seen in the diction, form, and imagery of poetry. Edgar Allan Poe’s “To Helen” is a poem written as a tribute to Helen. One of the most noticeable characteristics about this poem is the vivid imagery. Even in the opening lines, Poe immediately introduces the topic of Helen’s renowned beauty. “—like those Nicean barks of yore” (Line 2). He compares her attractiveness to the small, yet delicate sailboats of ancient times. Poe continues to add on to this imagery of travel when he mentions that Helen alone, with her lovely face and hair, was enough for the speaker to arrive at Greece. He then paints an image of Helen standing angelically by a window and compares her to Psyche, a beautiful princess. Poe masterfully uses diction to accentuate his awe for Helen. There are words he uses to almost mimic the language and feel of ancient times. “Thy hyacinth… Thy Naiad airs have brought me home” (Lines 7-8). Helen’s hair is described as a gem-like transparent red and gentle airs have presumably been sent by nature goddesses known as naiads to guide the traveler home to Greece. One of the elements of the poem that might go unnoticed is the form. There is a musical, rhythmic quality to both the words and resulting sentences. “That gently, o’er a perfumed sea, The weary, way-worn wanderer bore” (Lines 3-5). The poem flows in likeness to sea, of which much of this poem includes. There is a simple, yet fluid rhyme scheme that is often a pattern of alternating end rhymes. “Helen”, by Hilda