Helen Poem Reflections

Helen Poem Reflections

            H. D.’s poem, “Helen”, describes a truly grotesque and hated woman. However, I can’t help but feel sorry for the hopelessly pitiful creature that “all Greece reviles.” It’s easy enough to hate Helen in the epic because of her questionable involvement in her own abduction. Whether or not she chose to leave her home and come to Troy, it makes no difference. Either way she has ended up alone and friendless, weighed down by blame and hate.

When the poet describes Helen as “wan” it evokes the image of a pale, sickly woman, too frail to stand let alone defend her self or fight back. It is this helplessness that I sense from the poem. I can’t help but pity the poor Helen.  

I also thought it was an interesting word choice to use the phrase “remembering past enchantments.” In the Odyssey Helen “enchants” her husband and her guests. Making them forget their heroic nature and manliness by drugging their wine. This is one of many cases where Helen is described as enchanting and using her feminine wiles to emasculate men. Although this makes her seem sinister, it may only be because she has no other defense against an unfriendly and threatening patriarchal world. It is also interesting because the poem makes Helen seem weak, but this tradition of enchanting men and stealing their power can be connected back to some of the most powerful female characters, including Hera in the Iliad, and Calypso and Circe in the Odyssey.