Helen
The poem "Helen’’ is composed of three stanzas and focuses on the hatred Greece had towards Helen of Troy. The first stanza opens with the narrator claiming Helen was hatred because of her beauty. The narrator mentions her white face, a symbol for nobility and her green eyes. She is described here almost as a statue, this idea being further highlighted by the mentioning of her white and unmoving hands. The way she is described in the first stanza is important because it transmits the idea that Helen was something out of this world, something akin to a Goddess and it is because of this why she was not loved and accepted by the rest of the population.
In the second stanza the narrator claims all of Greece hates Helen and when she smiles, their contempt grows even more. The smile is used here as a symbol for the beauty Helen possessed and also for her good hearted nature. Though this, the narrator wants to transmit the idea that beauty is dangerous because it can have the power to influence men. It also mentions why Greece hates Helen so much, namely because they remember past ills or rather what happened because Helen ran away from her husband.
The third stanza is a conclusion to the poem, claiming the people could only love Helen if only she were dead, thus showing just how much she was hated.
Cassandra
The poem "Cassandra’’ is addressed to King Hymen, the person who in the Greek mythology was the God of weddings. A woman, presumably Cassandra, addresses King Hymen, asking him what is the source of her pain in her heart. Because Cassandra asks King Hymen, we can assume that the feeling she asks about is love for someone.
In the second stanza, the narrator talks about how she was blinded and how her freedom was affected by this feeling. She uses the metaphor of wings to describe the freedom that was taken from her and she mentions how there are only two ways she can escape: she can either have her wings broken, probably alluding her to marriage, or set them free, making reference here most likely to her desire to break free from these feelings. It is also important to note the end of the second stanza, where the narrator links her capability to reach the heaven, with the presence of her wings. Thus, purity is also linked with the disappearance of the feelings that plague her.
In the next stanza the narrator talks about the pain she feels because she is mocked by various people. This may refer to the fact that Cassandra, the mythological figure, was seen as a mad woman because of her capability to see the future and how many people refused to believe her because they saw her as untrustworthy.
In the next stanza, Cassandra asks the King if there is no man on earth willing to marry her. She mentions men with different occupations and even though she is the daughter of a king, she is willing to give herself to anyone just to experience love and get married.
The last stanza continues with the same idea presented in the one before. The woman addresses the king while also finishing the poem with a plea addressed to him, asking him to be kind and let her experience love and let her find someone to marry.
Cities
The poem entitled "Cities’’ begins with the narrator claiming that every street in the city looks the same and every house looks just like the other. The narrator wants to transmit through this that we can no longer find any diversity. In the second stanza, the narrator mentions the crowds inside a city and how the cities nowadays are different from the way temples used to be. The palaces were also replaced by the busy streets and as a result people could no longer see beauty.
This idea is important because the narrator links the idea of degradation of our society with the idea of overcrowded cities. Beauty faded because people were no longer able to see beauty and thus they became just like the buildings described by the narrator: all the same, with no vision and with no individuality.
