Re-creating Helen of troy in h. d. 's imagist poetry

Abstract EN

This research paper studies the re-creation of Helen of Troy in the imagist poetry of Hilda Doolittle (H.

D.

).

Helen of Troy is the most popular mythical character in the history of world literature.

She is also the most frequently named character in classical mythology.

Her name is associated with beauty, love, war, seduction, destruction, and mystery.

She is usually depicted as a silent, but observing, figure, the cause of a fatal war that killed men and destroyed cities.

She has not been given a voice to defend herself, and no poet or dramatist ever delve deep into that character to understand her motives, desires, agonies, and sufferings.

She has been misunderstood as an object rather than a human being.

Hilda Doolittle, feeling that she is suffering from the same oppression and misunderstanding, re-creates this mythical figure in her poetry from a different point of view.

She tries to shed some light on the dark aspects of this figure.

She gives Helen a voice to express herself as a beloved, woman, wife, daughter, and mother.

H.

D.

sees Helen as a self-image that helps her search for an identity and re-evaluates the choices of her life.

In order to do so, H.

D.

peruses the Greek mythology thoroughly investigating Helen's life from Sparta to Troy and finally the eidolon Helen in Egypt.