By the time the Trojans knew they had lost, I just can't accept they were thinking of the difference in their gods, or their wit, compared to the blows, and the loss of all. Am also quite unsure blood is ever any more or less red, when it bleeds from the dead.
I'd like to understand more about the poem's use of straightness (line, shaft) and its opposite (shivering, the arc of fortune's toss, roses, and the irregular edge of spreading blood) and the colors white and red.
Thank you for this insightful reflection, Sally. Reading around in H.D., I've been pleasantly surprised to discover a fair amount of rhyme.
By the time the Trojans knew they had lost, I just can't accept they were thinking of the difference in their gods, or their wit, compared to the blows, and the loss of all. Am also quite unsure blood is ever any more or less red, when it bleeds from the dead.
I get that, but I was intrigued by what one would think about at the moment you realize you are losing and your gods are powerless to stop it.
That is a good thought, it also allows them to ignore their own efforts in delivering themselves to their fate, with or without the gods aide.
This suggested to me two other poems which also deal in various ways with the aftermath of Troy.
Janet Lewis' Helen Grown Old: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50903/helen-grown-old
And
Louise Bogan's Cassandra: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48404/cassandra-56d2299e5f18d
I'd like to understand more about the poem's use of straightness (line, shaft) and its opposite (shivering, the arc of fortune's toss, roses, and the irregular edge of spreading blood) and the colors white and red.