Helen
All Greece hatesthe still eyes in the white face,the lustre as of oliveswhere she stands,and the white hands.
All Greece revilesthe wan face when she smiles,hating it deeper stillwhen it grows wan and white,remembering past enchantmentsand past ills.
Greece sees unmoved,God’s daughter, born of love,the beauty of cool feetand slenderest knees,could love indeed the maid,only if she were laid,white ash amid funereal cypresses.
Words in this poem
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- unmoved a.
- Not moved; fixed; firm; unshaken; calm; apathetic.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Helen is in the public domain. This text is taken from Heliodora, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #62456; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: H.D., Helen, in Heliodora, and Other Poems (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #62456, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hd-heliodora/helen.html, id L24299.
Form and metre
Helen is 18 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ---AA hates · face · olives · standsA · handsA
- 2 AA---- revilesA · smilesA · still · white · enchantments · ills
- 3 ---ABBA unmoved · love · feet · kneesA · maidB · laidB · cypressesA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| All Greece hates | 3 | ··· |
| the still eyes in the white face, | 7 | ······· |
| the lustre as of olives | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| where she stands, | 3 | ··· |
| and the white hands. | 4 | ···· |
| All Greece reviles | 4 | ··˘/ |
| the wan face when she smiles, | 6 | ······ |
| hating it deeper still | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| when it grows wan and white, | 6 | ······ |
| remembering past enchantments | 8 | ˘/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| and past ills. | 3 | ··· |
| Greece sees unmoved, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| God’s daughter, born of love, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| the beauty of cool feet | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| and slenderest knees, | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| could love indeed the maid, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| only if she were laid, | 6 | /˘···· |
| white ash amid funereal cypresses. | 11 | ··˘/˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.