Body Paragraph 3 (Tone)
Edgar Allan Poe and Hilda Doolittle both use tone to convey their perspective and opinion on the Helen of Troy. In Poe’s “To Helen”, he makes several allusions to the “glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome” when describing Helen’s beauty. These descriptions refer to the significance of the classical period, where the architecture, arts, and philosophies developed would help shape the rest of civilization. Poe uses a formal and admiring tone when he compares Helen to cultures that are still held in high respect in modern times, deeming her an embodiment of the impact from this specific era. He also references Psyche, a character of Greek mythology in the third stanza, saying “The agate lamp within thy hand!
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Poe equates it to Helen’s endless love for Paris, the Prince of Troy, for whom she left Greece behind and continued to stand beside during the treachery of battle. Poe creates a tone of awe towards Helen’s perpetual beauty and devotion, creating that feeling in his word choice and allusions to Helen. On the contrary, H.D. uses a harsh tone, condemning Helen with bitter hatred. In the second stanza of “Helen”, she tells of “past enchantments” suggesting Helen’s endless loyalty to Paris was a frivolous fling, extending her anger to Paris and Troy for their protection of an immature and unfaithful woman simply because of how she looked. In the third stanza, H.D talks of “past ills” where she displays her bitterness at Helen’s decisions and choices. Helen chose to leave her husband, her duty as Queen, and chose to have the blood of thousands on her hands all for the pleasure of a pretty man. H.D finds these “past ills” evidence towards Helen’s treachery and betrayal of Greece, and finds no point in her prominent worship by people like Poe despite Helen’s beauty. These statements create an air of betrayal from H.D., who’s allusions to Helen’s relationships as idle and immature things show how this horrible cause of a 10-year war created
One trait that stands out multiple times in this story is Paris’ selfishness. One example of his selfishness is when Paris goes to Sparta and takes Helen away from her husband and baby. This is selfish because even though Helen goes willingly, Paris knows Menelaus will be angry, but he chooses to take her back to Troy anyways. This is also selfish because the people of Sparta were upset about Helen leaving,“…With the maidens
“Such was the tale told me by the priests concerning the arrival of Helen at the court of Proteus. It seems to me that Homer was acquainted with this story , and while disregarding it , because he thought it less adapted for heroic poe...
Edgar Allen Poe is known for his dark yet comedic approach toward the his theme of his stories. Likewise, Poe’s themes have gathered many fans due to his impression of reasoning in his stories. The author uses thinking and reasoning to portray the theme. Poe’s unique diction comprehends with the theme of the story. Poe has a brilliant way of taking gothic tales of mystery, and terror, and mixing them with variations of a romantic tale by shifting emphasis from, surface suspense and plot pattern to his symbolic play in language and various meanings of words.
Edgar Allan Poe primarily authored stories dealing with Gothic literature; the stories were often quite dreary. Poe possessed a very sorrowful view of the world and he expressed this throughout his literary works. His goal was to leave an impression with every detail that he included in his stories. Although Poe’s stories seem very wretched and lackluster they all convey a certain idea. A trademark of Poe’s is his use of very long complex sentences. For instance, in his work The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe tried to ensure that every detail was as relevant as possible by integrating a wide variety of emotion. In the third paragraph, of page two hundred ninety-seven, Poe wrote, “Feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way through the trellised panes, and served to render sufficiently distinct the more prominent objects around…” This sentence illustrates the descriptiveness and complexity that Edgar Allan Poe’s works consisted of. The tormented cognizance of Poe led him to use a very gloomy diction throughout his writing. Edgar Allan Poe’s use of symbols and the way he conveyed his writing expr...
The personification in the poem is presented in line 29 where it states “A troop of Echoes whose sweet duty/ Was but to sing” (Poe). Echoes don't necessarily come in “troops,” like an army, but rather in ...
This juxtaposition is what leads the reader to understand the true meaning of the poem. For example, “Danae” is a “vessel” for “Jove” (lines 56). Danae is belittled to an object and claimed by Jove while Jove remains “golden” and godly. In lines seven and eight, “Jove the Bull” “bore away” at “Europa”. “Bore”, meaning to make a hole in something, emphasises the violent sexual imagery perpetrated in this poem. Jove disguises himself as a bull in order to take Europa away to Crete so he can rape her. Not only that, but she becomes pregnant afterwards and “bore” a child. Europa was physically “away” from her home because Jove had stolen her, but Jove “bore away” at her physically as well as emotionally. Finally, in line 8, the “Swan’s featherless bride” refers to Leda, who was raped by Zeus in the form of a swan. Not only is she not mentioned by name but she is owned by the “Swan” as demonstrated by the possessive noun. While the other women had minor historical context, Leda is reduced to three words. Not only that but Jove 's violence against the women increase with every name, Leda being alluded to last drives home the pain he
The poem Leda and the Swan is about the rape of Leda committed by Zeus in disguise as a swan. Because of what they have done, it sets history in motion. Thus, it's fated that Helen will launch the war of a thousand ships, how Troy will fall, and Agamemnon will be murdered,...etc.
Throughout the poem, Plath contradicts herself, saying, ‘I was seven, I knew nothing’ yet she constantly talks of the past, remembering. Her tone is very dark and imposing, she uses many images of blindness, deafness and a severe lack of communication, ‘So the deaf and dumb/signal the blind, and are ignored’. Her use of enjambment shows her feelings and pain in some places, in other places it covers up her emotional state. She talks of her father being a German, a Nazi. Whilst her father may have originated from Germany, he was in no way a Nazi, or a fascist. He was a simple man who made sausages. ‘Lopping the sausages!’ However she used this against her father, who died when she was but eight, saying that she still had night mares, ‘They color1 my sleep,’ she also brings her father’s supposed Nazism up again, ‘Red, mottled, like cut necks./There was a silence!’. Plath also talks of her father being somewhat of a general in the militia, ‘A yew hedge of orders,’ also with this image she brings back her supposed vulnerability as a child, talking as if her father was going to send her away, ‘I am guilty of nothing.’ For all her claims of being vul...
Jones, Daryl E. "Poe's Siren: Character and Meaning in 'Ligeia.'" Studies in Short Fiction. 20.1 (1983): 33-37.
Homer, Iliad is the narration of the Trojan war. The Trojan war was one of the most important and significant wars of Greek mythology, Homer described how the war was triggered by the abduction of the most beautiful women known as Helen. This paper will argue how the traditional view of this poem is accurate because it indeed was Helens beauty and her selfishness that sparked the Trojan war. Although Helen was not happy about the outcomes of her mistakes. This paper will present how Helen faced many forms of self judgment, how she created many relationships with significant characters, such as Paris, Priam and Aphrodite. Homers portrayal of this significant women was remarkable as we were able to feel her pain and anguish, the readers were
At the site of a beautiful woman who tearfully acknowledges her past errors, no man can remain angry and dismiss her… Therefore, the set-up of the whole scene along with the tremendous advantage Helen gains in the end by ascertaining Priam 's patronage suggests that her words are part of a carefully orchestrated plan to manipulate the Trojan elders, who are most instrumental in determining her fate. (Tsakitopoulou 38-39)
To Helen presents beauty as necessary for apprehending the divine. Poe celebrates beauty, specifically the beauty of a women, as represented by two women known for beauty in Greek legend (Helen of Troy and Psyche). Helen's beauty escorts him to Hellenistic culture and values, which brings him to Psyche, who illuminates the divine.
“The Bells,” a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, conveys a cheerful tone through distinct sounds and repetition of words. A deeply onomatopoeic poem, “The Bells” progresses after every stanza. Primarily, the alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia in the poem produce a happy tone; but, towards the end of the poem, the sound devices help establish a gloomier tone. In each stanza, the bells are made of a different metal substance. In the first stanza, the bells are described as silver. In this case, the bells are pleasant, precious, and strong. Moreover, the bells portray the stages in life. The first stanza explains a man’s happy childhood. The golden bells in the second stanza are an example of a man’s love life through marriage. The brazen bells in the third stanza depict the terror of a human’s life through aging, and the iron bells in the fourth stanza show the mourning and death of a human. To fulfill the sense of excitement and happiness throughout the first stanza, Poe uses repeating words and consonants, long vowels, and imitation of sounds. The alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia all contribute to the joyful and merry tone of “The Bells.”
During her time, Sappho was unique because her stories chose to focus on love while most other stories focused on wars. An example of this is shown as Sappho starts poem 16 with an optimistic approach to love as she argues that "some men say an army of horses…is the most beautiful thing on the black earth. But I say it is what you love". This personal approach on love's allure is much more relatable for an audience than war, as most people will experience these powerful emotions in their lifetime but not all will experience war directly. Sappho's even compares her own life experiences with that of Helen, who left her entire family for Paris of Troy. She states that the story "reminded me now of Anaktoria" but most importantly that she "would rather see her lovely step and the motion of light on her face than chariots of Lydians". Sappho says much more with this line than just of love's power, she is also alluding to the loss of someone she loved. This unusual first-person incorporation to a well-known part of history gives the audience an idea of just how painful love can be, as the idea of getting it back overcomes the excitement of war for
This is shown the quote “I was nearly an English child. I could list the English Kings. I could name the famous battles. I was learning to recognize God’s grace in history” This shows how the teacher is able to dominate the listeners sort of like when you like in Colonialism and Imperialism. Since the teacher is able to control the situation and no one has no say in it. The speaker tries to repel or fight back the situation by telling accounts of her personal background by saying “where exactly was my old house? Its brass One and Seven. Its flight of granite steps. Its lilac tree whose scent stayed under your fingernails for days.” In this poem it underlines the negative effects that she confronts in “legends”. Since the power given to whom is telling the story is massive and it can do a lot of damage if