Andrew Lang’s Helen of Troy is a long narrative poem based on Greek mythology that explores love, desire, divine intervention, and the devastating war and suffering they bring upon human lives. The story begins when Paris, the exceptionally handsome prince of Troy, arrives as a guest at the palace of Menelaus, King of Lacedaemon, and recounts his past and Aphrodite’s promise that he would possess the most beautiful woman in the world. Helen is portrayed not simply as a willing lover or an abducted queen but as a tragic woman caught in the power of the goddess and of fate, tormented by guilt after leaving her husband, daughter, and homeland. Following the flight of Helen and Paris through the Trojan War, the death of Paris, the fall of Troy, and Helen’s return to Menelaus, the poem reveals in grand and lyrical language how beauty and passion can destroy both private happiness and the destiny of entire nations.
