To Helen, Doolittle's Poem, Helen
Helen of Troy is simultaneously one of the most revered and most reviled characters of Greek myth. While some love her for her beauty, others hate her for the role she played in sparking the Trojan War. Exemplifying these two extremes are Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “To Helen,” and Hilda Doolittle’s poem, “Helen.” While the imagery used by Poe to describe Helen’s beauty portray an undeniable adoration, Doolittle’s diction starkly contrasts this with clear resentment for her wretched character. The vivid imagery employed throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s poem reveals his admiration for Helen’s beauty and perceived innocence. In depicting the image of Helen’s face, the poem reads “Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face” (Poe, 7). With this passage, Poe
…show more content…
Throughout the poem Doolittle describes Helen’s features as “white.” While normally the color white is associated with goodness, innocence, and purity, this changes completely when doolittle decides to include the term “wan” beside it in the second stanza. This usage of a single term allows Doolittle to change the interpretation of the rest of the poem. In using a term which typically describes the sickly, Doolittle conjures an image of a woman who is pale, wretched, and pathetic, and this connotation is then carried by each use of the word “white” throughout the poem as it describes the same physical feature. With the establishment of Helen as an uncomely figure, despite her beauty, Doolittle uses terms to describe her which are not inhuman, but slightly off-putting: “still” in reference to her eyes, “white” in reference to her skin, her face, and her hands, “cool” in reference to her feet (but also implicating her skin), and “slender” in reference to her knees (implicating also her frame). This all compiles to forming an image which is pretty, yet unsettling, and this is meant to reflect on Helen’s character. This brings to attention the idea that while people fawn over her beauty, her actions and her disposition have been rather ghastly. Doolittle’s choice of words provide an image starkly different to that described by Poe and which is equivalent to her view of Helen’s character, one which is warped and
Throughout the poem Doolittle describes Helen’s features as “white.” While normally the color white is associated with goodness, innocence, and purity, this changes completely when doolittle decides to include the term “wan” beside it in the second stanza. This usage of a single term allows Doolittle to change the interpretation of the rest of the poem. In using a term which typically describes the sickly, Doolittle conjures an image of a woman who is pale, wretched, and pathetic, and this connotation is then carried by each use of the word “white” throughout the poem as it describes the same physical feature. With the establishment of Helen as an uncomely figure, despite her beauty, Doolittle uses terms to describe her which are not inhuman, but slightly off-putting: “still” in reference to her eyes, “white” in reference to her skin, her face, and her hands, “cool” in reference to her feet (but also implicating her skin), and “slender” in reference to her knees (implicating also her frame). This all compiles to forming an image which is pretty, yet unsettling, and this is meant to reflect on Helen’s character. This brings to attention the idea that while people fawn over her beauty, her actions and her disposition have been rather ghastly. Doolittle’s choice of words provide an image starkly different to that described by Poe and which is equivalent to her view of Helen’s character, one which is warped and