Helen Essay Questions

What is Greece's hatred of Helen a likely metaphor for, according to H.D.'s context, tone, and diction?

Greece, in its hatred of Helen's every look and demeanor, its dissection of her body in the process of its hatred, and its obsession with her despite its vicious feelings, functions as a metaphor for the way that culture and society treat women. In emphasizing the extent and irrationality of such hate—most notably by using mythology—H.D. is sending a political message about the way such hatred is embedded deep in our collective psyche. Further, she illustrates the way in which society's anger and hatred toward women is tied into its need, love, and lust for them—which often results in an added layer of resentment, animosity, and violence. The fact that the "maid" of Helen can only be loved after she is dust, alludes to the fact that women are often coveted in theory, but when they engage in society with their flaws, complexities, desires, and demands, culture literally and figuratively annihilates them.

What are some subtle poetic strategies used by H.D. to make a feminist statement?

By the end of the poem, the reader is steeped in Greece's hatred of Helen, the contours of which show how misogynistic culture obsesses over, and yet destroys women. One hint about this reality is the speaker's shift from the word "hate" to "revile"—revile being a stronger word than hate with its connotation of disgust and contempt.

Another strategy is the speaker's phrase "hating it deeper still," when noting that Greece hates Helen more when her face changes from smiling to solemn. While H.D. writes that Greece hates Helen when she smiles too, it's worth noticing that Helen, as a symbol of all women, is hated even more when she is not on cheerful display. Essentially, though Greece seems to hate Helen for all her expressions of humanity, she is hated even more deeply when she fails to be good-natured and serve the mood of others. This sexist standard persists in contemporary times, entitling men to command women to smile on the street daily.

Yet another strategy harnessed by H.D., is her nod to the "blazon," a poetic form in which the poet acknowledges the parts of a woman's body to honor her and sing her praises. However, in "Helen," H.D. has the speaker reference Helen's body as a way of dissecting the ways she is hated. Perhaps such a divergent, yet parallel, use of the form alludes to the fact that traditional blazons still fetishize and objectify women—making such poems part of the same misogynistic culture that, though sometimes admiring, shifts quickly into sexist loathing.