Helen of Troy by Evelyn De Morgan (1898, London); Helen admiringly displays a lock of her hair, as she gazes into a mirror decorated with the nude Aphrodite.
Consider, please, Helen of Troy
Whose mug spelled doom for thousands of boys
The lads perished for nuffin
Helen's face is a MacGuffin
That conjures neither pleasure nor joy
~cie~
https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2021-april-pad-challenge-countdown-t-minus-5Write a MacGuffin poem
Please note that I am not implying that Helen is a MacGuffin. She is a critically important character from Greek mythology. The "MacGuffin" is Helen's face, as referred to in the line "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships?" from Christopher Marlowe's poem.
From the Wikipedia entry on Helen of Troy
Helen appears in various versions of the Faust myth, including Christopher Marlowe's 1604 play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, in which Faustus famously marvels, "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships / And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?" upon seeing a demon impersonating Helen.[89] The line, which is frequently quoted out of context,[89][91] is a paraphrase of a statement from Lucian's Dialogues of the Dead.
In my quest for righteous participation in my favorite blog hops without sacrificing what little remains of my sanity, I am going to try sharing my poetry with Weekend Writing Warriors, at least while I am immersed in the process of formatting my overdue poetry volume. We'll see how this goes.
The Icky, Sticky, Nit-Picky Legalese If You Please (Or Don't Please)
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I like the irreverent tone of your poem.
ReplyDeleteAlways a nice change of pace to see poetry in the snippets! I never could see the allure of Helen of Troy either but once those pesky Greek gods got involved, anything could and did happen!
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree - her face could be considered a McGuffin. They could just as easily been enamored with her hair, or bosom, or chocolate chip cookie recipe.
ReplyDelete