Examkin

Question

Difficulty: Very hardAllusions in Poetry

Read the poem below carefully:

Why should I blame her that she filled my days
With misery, or that she would of late
Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways,
Or hurled the little streets upon the great,
Had they but courage equal to desire?
What could have made her peaceful with a mind
That nobleness made simple as a fire,
With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind
That is not natural in an age like this,
Being high and solitary and most stern?
Why, what could she have done, being what she is?
Was there another Troy for her to burn?

In the context of the poem as a whole, the allusion to Troy in the final line ('Was there another Troy for her to burn?') serves to achieve which of the following effects?

  1. A
    Establish a literal comparison between the socioeconomic struggles of the modern 'little streets' and the historical fall of the ancient city
  2. B
    Characterize the woman as an active political instigator whose primary goal is the physical demolition of contemporary urban areas
  3. Frame the woman's destructive power not as a personal malice, but as an inevitable consequence of her mythic grandeur existing within a diminished modern eraAnswer
  4. D
    Express the speaker's bitter condemnation of the woman's actions by comparing her to a legendary figure of historical infamy
  5. E
    Reveal the poet's personal sense of disillusionment with his own inability to participate in historical conflicts

Answer

Frame the woman's destructive power not as a personal malice, but as an inevitable consequence of her mythic grandeur existing within a diminished modern era
The correct answer correctly identifies that the comparison of the woman to Helen of Troy serves to rationalize her destructive nature. By asking if there was another Troy for her to burn, the speaker argues that the woman's grand, heroic qualities are fundamentally incompatible with the mundane modern world ('an age like this'), making her destructive influence an inevitable force of nature rather than a malicious choice.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the allusion and its classical source
The reference to burning Troy evokes Helen of Troy, whose beauty and presence led to the decade-long Trojan War and the eventual destruction of the city.
Understanding the source of the allusion is necessary to decode its symbolic meaning in the poem.
2
Analyze the characterization of the woman in the poem
The woman is described as possessing 'nobleness,' 'beauty like a tightened bow,' and a nature 'not natural in an age like this.' She is 'high and solitary and most stern.'
This characterization establishes that the woman belongs to a heroic, ancient mold rather than the mundane modern world.
3
Evaluate the rhetorical question in the final line
The speaker concludes that because the woman is inherently like Helen of Troy (possessing mythic, destructive grandeur), she cannot act otherwise. However, because she lives in a modern era lacking a grand classical stage ('another Troy'), her destructive energy is misdirected or seems disproportionate.
This explains how the allusion functions to justify the woman's actions and shift the blame from her personal choices to the mismatch between her nature and her era.

Key Concept

Understanding the thematic and character-defining function of classical allusions in poetry.
Rate this question

Topics

Allusions in Poetry

More questions from this topic