POETRY ESSAY PROMPT #1

PRE-WRITE:

Body Paragraph #1: Tone
-Poe is more loving.
-H.D. is furious with Helen for being too perfect and ruining society
-Poe loses himself in her beauty
-H.D. uses words such as hate and reviles

Body Paragraph #2: Imagery
-Poe describes her complexion to that of a flower
-H.D. gives her still eyes
-Poe is says she is a statue in a beautiful way
-H.D. gives her white "blank" descriptions towards her beauty as if soul-less.

Body Paragraph #3: Diction
-Poe's word choice is loving and flows in a charming way
-H.D.'s word choice is hateful and angered

     Beauty is interpreted through the poems To Helen by Edgar Allen Poe and Helen by H.D. as enchanting, hated, captivating, and destructive. Edgar Allen Poe's perception of Helen is that she is the most beautiful of women and he is enticed by her beauty while H.D.'s views are different in the sense that  he sees Helen's beauty as destructive. Throughout the poem's both authors utilize tone, imagery, and diction in order to display their views of her beauty and how it affects them.

     Through Poe's version of Helen's story, she is displayed as an idol beauty to Poe by his tone. In Poe's poem he uses syntax in order to develop his tone by using descriptive words like that of a flower. Overall Poe's tone is romantic and loving. On the other hand, H.D's tone is malicious due to the fact that he despises Helen. Throughout H.D.'s interpretation of Helen's story, he utilizes syntax with descriptive words such as wan and unmoved which establishes the author's tone of being so hateful.

     Being compared to the beauty of a flower and perfumed seas obviously states that Poe is infatuated with the woman he is writing about in his poem. Through his use of imagery he creates an understanding of his love for her beauty by observing it in contrast to hyacinths. H.D. utilizes imagery in order to show his hate for her and that stating her beauty is ruining what Greece once was by comparing her to this gloomy statue that is hated by all of Greece. 

     As one reads Poe's understanding of Helen, their is an obvious flow in his writing that portrays his, almost, obsession for Helen. All through Poe's explanation of Helen's story, his diction is rather charmed and has a certain light flow to it that is consistent. In H.D.'s grasp of who Helen is, his word choice of hate and wan show how his diction tends to be more angered.

     Helen's beauty has been evaluated both by Edgar Allen Poe and H.D. and has been interpreted into their poems in very contrasting ways. Poe is more loving while H.D. seems to despise Helen, even though both have their own understandings, they establish their points through their use of tone, imagery, and diction. They may disagree on how her beauty affects them, but they are both captivated by her either in an obsessive or hateful way.