To Helen Poe

Beauty is often something that many get distracted by. In the poem “To Helen” by Edgar Allen Poe, he emphasizes the value of Helen’s beauty. However in Hilda Doolittle poem “Helen” she emphasizes the destruction caused by Helen’s beauty. Together these two poems show two sides of beauty and how it affects those surrounded by it.
With beauty being such an attraction for men, Poe writing an entire poem on beauty is no surprise. Compared to the meaning of Doolittle’s poem, poe’s is about Helen’s head to toe beauty. Poe opened his essay with the drastic claim, “… Thy beauty is to me like those Niceán barks of yore…” (lines 1-2) Though the reader does not get much of an image from these lines, by comparing her beauty to being as important as the boats of Niceán. This is quite the claim considering naval trade was ideal for a thriving society, so Poe is
Poe’s poem of famous beauty is struck with the denoting line,”Glory of what used to be Greece…” (line 9). The tone of this single line is very depressing. Greece has always been perceived as a gorgeous city. When poe uses the phrase “used to be” it contradicts all the glory to give off the image that Greece is now in ruins. Poe is focused on the beauty of the city, and not the people’s reaction to the devastation. Doolittle also includes signs of Greece’s downfall with the line, “ All of Greece criticizes with hate…” (line 6). Right away the ton seems to beam with hatred and unease among the people. Doolittle’s diction in using the words all, and criticizes create a image showing greece coming together to demonstrate their honest opinion of Helen, which is not a very good one. Unlike poe she focuses more on the people than the beauty of the city. Poe was focused on the visual destruction, whereas Doolittle focused on the people and the unseen mental destruction that can be heard but not