O Thou Art Fairer Than the Evening Air Meaning

The Face That Launch'd a Thousand Ships

Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.
Her lips suck forth my soul: encounter where it flies!
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul once more.
Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena.
I will exist Paris, and for honey of thee,
Instead of Troy, shall Wittenberg be sack'd;
And I will combat with weak Menelaus,
And wearable thy colours on my plumed crest;
Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,
And then render to Helen for a kiss.
O, thou fine art fairer than the evening air
Clad in the dazzler of a k stars;
Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter
When he appear'd to hapless Semele;
More lovely than the monarch of the sky
In wanton Arethusa's azur'd arms;
And none but thou shalt be my paramour!

Commentary

Well-nigh of what I know virtually Helen of Troy (formerly of Sparta) I got from Wolfgang Peterson'due south apparently not-so-true-blue 2004 Brad Pitt-starring Troy, with Diane Kruger (Inglorious Basterds) playing m-ship launcher Helen. Pretty, aye, just worth all the problem? Regardless of how ones rates Kruger's hotness and rightness for the part, the mythical Helen of Sparta is actually, really, really hot. Hot enough to cause a war and make men go loco-er than normal.

This poem is, from the male perspective, basically near a dude trying to brand himself sound as macho and strong as possible, totally trying to impress Ms. Helen. He will "wound Achilles" and "combat..Menelaus", and conclude his activities and "return to Helen for a kiss." He'due south a total romancer, in a large, sweet epic kind-of-way. The verse form showcases what a very bonny adult female does to a guy who really tin't get this gal out of their mind: a excellent, verbose description of the powers her beauty contains, and what a man would do for her (similar beating up Brad Pitt and Brian Cox).

Plus, just kissing her is elation. Every bit Marlowe writes in metaphor, "for heaven is in these lips", why would one fear any of these people (Achilles, Menelaus) when heaven herself is correct in front of you? (Marlowe utilizes metaphor again, relating Helen equally "fairer than the evening air." Boy gee golly, I needs to get me a time auto and run across up with Helen.

Information technology's a love poem, patently and uncomplicated. From the sounds of it, the writer has seen Helen, but doesn't exactly take a steady relationship with the gal (relationship significant anything: friendship, uncle, stalker, etc., etc.), and is instead relating her beauty from distant. This could, in fact, be a personification of the writer'southward mental procedure, but a transcription of what the guy'southward thinking. Cool theory, dare I say and then myself. I dare!

For a poem like this and then heavily focused on a female – negative or positive, your choice – one can't help but expect at it under the literary technique of 'gender roles', or for our purposes here, 'feminist theory.'

Women will first take note of Helen's function in this play. Manifestly, written from the point of view of a homo, a woman isn't typically about to exist the Ripley of the play and have a completely three-dimensional persona. Too, that's not what this play is about. And it's hither that feminist theory would bespeak out that Helen becomes cypher more than a class of objectification. Is Helen just a personification of man's animalism, naught a care in the world for whatsoever of her personality traits that makes her so…um, succulent? Instead of delving into who she is, what she stands for, why she is cherished so…she's given the Edward Cullen treatment and made out to exist a vision of beauty that makes words and then mundane and unworthy in their presence.

Aside from the verse form, permit'southward have a moment and await at the story of Helen overall. She's a powerless adult female in a vast ocean of men championing to be her, uh, man. Taking her affection for Paris out of the equation, despite beingness an of import part of a mega war, she's also insignificant in that her office is quickly outsized; bugged down, so to speak.

The final line'southward declaration of Helen being ones paramour, or "dearest" (god bless the lexicon for denotation words). At least there'south something in that – from the sounds of it, the writer wants something more than a fling with beloved Helen of Sparta -- love may actually play a part in the equation. But then again, how can a bloke exist in honey with a gal he doesn't really know? Sorta problematic.

One last note, Poems Poet suggest the poem was written past Paul Laurence Dunbar, a Africa American poet from the late 1800s. Seemingly, that is the but website through a quick Google search that features that connotation. The Ancient History section of About.com cites Marlowe's Doctor Faustus as the originator of the earth renowned line "the face that launched a thousand ships."

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Source: https://gojiralord.tripod.com/the-face-that-launch-d-a-thousand-ships.html

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