Poetry Essay #1

Pre-write

Body Paragraphs:
Paragraph 1: Fundamental Differences in Speakers.
To Helen: Speaker views statue as beautiful, glorious, a sight to behold. Once which brings both joy and comfort. Yet is distant to the narrator himself. Uses allusion to Rome.
Helen: Speaker sees the statue as a destructive becon. One which signifies the downfall of roam. It's fault lies in its perfect beauty. Hatred comes from its larger than life persona

Paragraph 2: Imagery/tone
To Helen: Describes beauty, welcoming in contrast to the lonely seas. Tone is calm, longing.
Helen: Very harsh tone, using the word hate on multiple occasions. Describes a statue that is too perfect, almost mocking. White, juxtaposition between the two.

Paragraph 3: Diction and Form
To Helen: Alliteration, Anaphora, iteration. Uses Greek references making the statue feel in place. Beauty, longing, Admiring
Helen: Hate, Past Ills, and wish for future destruction. Clear diction, no olden or cosmopolitan language.

Essay #1

               Objects of great beauty often are met with contradicting views, such as Helen in the poems To Helen by Edgar Allan Poe, and Helen, by H.D. In Edgar Allan Poe's Helen, the speaker sees Helen as a beautiful, welcoming, caring figure. He gets lost in his words, and is found in the poem through Helen. She is described through long, flowing sentences, with very complimentary words. In H.D.'s Helen, the speaker views Helen with great contempt. She is seen as the beauty which brought down their society, and sees her as perfect to the point of flaw. She is painted as a purely white figure whom caused disaster for Greece, and these descriptions are accompanied with vindictive words. These drastically conflicting views of Helen can be seen through the speaker's tone, imagery, diction, and form in which they delivered their viewpoints.

                The speakers in the two have two different stories about Helen. In Poe's version, the speaker tells of a beauty across a lost sea. Of someone who brings great comfort and homage to those whom allow it. Troy is seen as home to the speaker, and Helen a motherly figure. In contrast, in H.D's version the speaker viewed Helen with great enmity. As the single factor whom destroyed their beloved Greece with her beauty. This beauty has brought great distress to Greece, and the speaker shares this side of Helen. The two sides from which the story of Helen is told lays the foundation for the speaker's viewpoints of her. 

                In accordance to these views, each speaker uses unique imagery to describe Helen, and in conflicting tones. To Helen's describes a the contrast between the lonely ocean waves, and the relaxed beauty of Helen. The speaker uses a very calm tone to describe the comfort they feel when viewing Helen. In Helen, the speaker has a very harsh tone, using the word hate on multiple occasions. They describes a statue that is too perfect, almost mocking.The imagery of a perfect white statue is used in juxtaposition with the tone used. 

           The different views on Helen can also be seen through the narrator's word choice, and how they put their story together. One speaker gets lost in their words, often repeating and emphasizing their comfort in Helen through both an alliteration and an anaphora. Their story is one of longing, and solace through Helen. In the other poem, the narrator uses very harsh words in very short lines to describe their hate of Helen. They describe their current hate, why they hate her, and their desire to be rid of the beautiful figure.

         Both speakers acknowledge the beauty of Helen, but one sees it in comfort, while the other through hate. Comfort is seen through a very calm, easy tone, which describes the lonely seas. Through long mellifluous sentences which ooze harmony with the statue. The other has a hatred of Helen, and is very clear of this through harsh words, and viewing the beauty as flawed.