Professor Borges - A Course on English Literature

this theme in his poem called “The Unobtainable Cup,” but in Lugones’s poem, it is a sculptor who wants to create the perfect cup, and he can only do so when he uses the breasts of a damsel as a model. 7 But here, Helen kneels in front of Venus, tells her she needs, she requires, love, and offers her that cup. And she explains why it is that shape, and she reminds her of that now long-gone day when Paris, who was a prince and a shepherd, had to give an apple to the most beautiful goddess. And there was Minerva, and there was Juno, and there was Venus. And he gave the cup to Venus.
    And Helen asks Venus to give her Paris’s love, and Venus tells her: “
Tú, que estás arrodillada ahí, haz que el amor te levante
.” [“There thou kneel’st for Love to lift!”] And then she says, “
Tu don ha sido aceptado
.” [“Thy gift hath grace!”] Then she calls her son, Eros—Cupid—and tells him to shoot an arrow. And that arrow travels far, to where Paris is sleeping, and pierces his heart; and he falls in love with Helen, whom he has never seen. And he says: “
Oh, abrazar su cabeza de oro
.” [“Oh to clasp her golden head!”] And the poem returns with the refrain: “
Troya ha caído, la alta Troya está en llamas.
” [“
O Troy’s down
, /
Tall Troy’s on fire!
”] That is, from the moment Paris falls in love with Helen, the future already exists, Troy is already in flames.
    And now let us hear this poem with details I have surely forgotten. In this poem, the parentheses do not correspond to the thoughts of another person, but rather to what is fated to happen. It is called “Troy Town.” This is a medieval expression. Today, nobody would say “Troy Town,” but rather “the town of Troy.” But in the Middle Ages, people said “Troy Town,” and they also said it in French. And we have seen that in Anglo-Saxon, to say “London” they said
Londonburh
, and to say “Rome,”
Romeburh
. 8 This is an analogous form.
    Now,Andrew Lang said that this ballad was not, obviously, a popular ballad, because Rossetti apparently did not intend it to be. 9 It is a highbrow poem, an artificial poem in the best sense of the word.
    [
A student begins to read the poem
.]
HEAVENBORN Helen, Sparta’s queen,
(
O Troy Town!
)
Had two breasts of heavenly sheen,
The sun and moon of the heart’s desire:
All Love’s lordship lay between.
(
O Troy’s down,
Tall Troy’s on fire!
)
Helen knelt at Venus’ shrine,
(
O Troy Town!
)
Saying, “A little gift is mine,
A little gift for a heart’s desire.
Hear me speak and make me a sign!
(
O Troy’s down,
Tall Troy’s on fire!
)
    When she says “
Óyeme hablar y hazme una seña!
” [“Hear me speak and make me a sign!”], the moment she says it, Troy has fallen, Troy is already on fire.
“Look, I bring thee a carven cup;
(
O Troy Town!
)
See it here as I hold it up,—
Shaped it is to the heart’s desire,
Fit to fill when the gods would sup.
(
O Troy’s down,
Tall Troy’s on fire!
)
    Helen to Venus: “
Te traigo una copa esculpida
” [“I bring thee a carven cup”] . . . “
digna de llenar el banquete de los dioses
” [“Fit to fill when the Gods would sup”].
“It was moulded like my breast;
(
O Troy Town!
)
He that sees it may not rest,
Rest at all for his heart’s desire.
O give ear to my heart’s behest!
(
O Troy’s down,
Tall Troy’s on fire!
)
    “
No podrá escapar al anhelo de mi corazón
.” [“O give ear to my heart’s behest!”] And the refrain: “
Troya en llamas
.”
“See my breast, how like it is;
(
O Troy Town!
)
See it bare for the air to kiss!
Is the cup to thy heart’s desire?
O for the breast, O make it his!
(
O Troy’s down,
Tall Troy’s on fire!
)
    “
Mira mi pecho, cómo se parece. Aquí está desnudo, para que el aire lo bese
.” [“See my breast . . . bare for the air to kiss!”]
“Yea, for my bosom here I sue;
(
O Troy Town!
)
Thou must give it where ’tis due,
Give it there to the heart’s desire.
Whom do I give my bosom to?
(
O Troy’s down,
Tall Troy’s on fire!
)
“Each twin breast is an apple sweet.
(
O Troy Town!
)
Once an apple stirred the beat
Of thy heart with the heart’s desire:—
Say, who brought it then to thy feet?
(
O Troy’s down,
Tall Troy’s on fire!
)
    “
Oh, Troy Town, tienese que dármelo, porque me corresponde
…” [“(
O Troy Town!
) / Thou must give it where ’tis due”]. “
¿A quién le daré mi pecho?
” [“Whom do I give my bosom to?”] Because she still