H.D. – Helen

As Jonathan Young stated in his blog, Helen, by H.D. was based on the expressions exhibited by the Greeks in reference to the statue, Helen of Troy. It is clear to see the discretion that the Greeks have towards Helen of Troy as they look at the statue. The poem is rather contradicting throughout the three stanzas as the Greeks go from describing the great things about the statue to denouncing their relationship with Helen completely.

When I first read the poem, I received imagery of death, not a statue at all. I think that the statue is the more literal meaning of the poem, but I believe that the statue is supposed to represent Helen’s death. Furthermore, the poem appears to be radial; all the information in the poem is being centered around one main idea: Helen.

In stanza one, the narrator allows the reader to see how he feels the Greeks feel about Helen and her Statue. They start off by describing her appeal as being “still [eyed]” and having a “white face”. I did see the imagery of a statue, but as I said before,

I think that H.D. gave the statue a literal meaning of being a representation of dedication to her country after she died, but I feel that H.D wanted the poem to resemble something a little more passionate and concealing like most poets do. It is clear that there is hatred in Greece’s heart, according to H.D., towards Helen since in line one of stanza one the narrator uses the word “hates”.

In stanza two, Greece furthermore express their hatred towards Helen as they describe how the “statue” smiles and they hate it. But, the statue also allows the people of Greece to remember the things that Helen has done for them that was great as well as the things that were not. The statue is served as a monument to the Trojan War: a reflection of the past. When H.D. said “remembering past enchantments and past ills,” I think that that was what Helen is suppose to emphasize: a reflection of the past, but yet she is dead.

Finally, in stanza three, the characters change from “All of Greece” to just “Greece”. I think that H.D. was emphasizing that there were some obvious citizens of

Greece that supported Helen’s leadership in the war (possibly more than others) and the remainder just stuck to their denouncements, but as well grieved.

The reason I strongly believe that H.D. intended on Helen being a representative poem of imagery toward heroism, death, and reflections from the past is because every hero has people who disagree with what they do/did and their purposes and visa versa. This poem clearly expresses that, and her death was monumental, which is why the statue was created. I also believe that Helen was represented as a statue because in stanza three lines six and seven H.D. says “only if she were laid, white ash amid funeral cypresses”. Reading that line a couple of times gave me a picture of Helen not being properly buried, but cremated instead, and as an effect, Helen (statue) was created. This made the mourning more appreciated and dramatic. In fact, cypresses are branches on coniferous trees that represent “mourning”.