Essay Questions

Who was Helen of Troy, and what is her significance?

The main character in the poem "Helen’’ is the famous character named Helen of Troy. She is a mythological character and it is believed she was the daughter of Zeus. She is described as being the most beautiful woman on earth and her beauty was the reason why the war between Troy and Sparta began. Helen is abducted by the Spartan king and taken to his palace. The Trojan king goes to war to get her back and she is retrieved by him. In the story, Helen returns to her husband and they live together in happiness. The story in the poem takes place after Helen returned to Troy and after the end of the war. The poem presents thus the opinion of the people, of those who lost loved ones in the war.

Who is King Hymen and Cassandra mentioned in the poem "Cassandra’’?

Hymen is in the Greek mythology the name given to the god of weddings and marriage. It was custom for the people who attended a marriage to call King Hymen to come to the wedding as it was believed the wedding will fail if King Hymen was not present at it. One of the people who mentioned King Hymen is Cassandra, a woman who was gifted the capability to see the future but who was also cursed not to be believed by everyone. She lived at the same time as Helen of Troy and after Troy fell, she was taken captive and died.

What represent the honey and the cells mentioned in the poem "Cities’’?

In the poem "Cities’’ the narrator talks about the way in which humanity was affected because of the fast paced lifestyle and the ever growing cities. The narrator describes the result and mentions how every trace of individuality was stripped from the earth and replaced by dullness. The narrator mentions how men began living in small cells, with grains of honey and old dust of pollen inside them. The cells are used here as a metaphor for the crammed spaced in which people live nowadays while the pollen and the honey are distant memories of the once natural world where humans used to live.