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the battle for troy

Member since 2004 · Posted 16 Oct 2004 · 24 comments

my love the beauty that launched a thousand ships and as each vessel left the harbor they sailed carrying a piece of my heart that it may lead them to you a compass always pointing towards true love and that you may be drawn to it a beakon to guide your journey though they sail to fringe of map you are but an illusion yet to be found and i still lay at home with just enough heart to keep me breathing and it is here i will wait till i can hold you and my heart can be restored once again

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24 comments

[3] horus8 17-Oct-04/9:06 AM Reply

Your knowledge of history needs a good punting.

[n/a] oneglove › horus8 17-Oct-04/2:06 PM Reply

are you sure i wasnt the focus of the trojan war?

[7] Dovina 17-Oct-04/9:08 AM Reply

I hate the term, true love. It is love or not, but what is true love? Otherwise, I find this fanciful, but alright in a mushy way.

[n/a] oneglove › Dovina 14-Nov-05/12:28 AM Reply

its a play on true north

[n/a] ALChemy › oneglove 14-Nov-05/2:49 AM Reply

Then say "true north". The smart ones among us will figure out you mean true love. If you're going to plagiarize then at least say it right, "the FACE that launched a thousand ships". Although decently worded your poem is awash with cliche after cliche.

[n/a] zodiac › ALChemy 14-Nov-05/3:56 AM Reply

The funny thing is "the face that launched a thousand ships" wasn't a cliche until some better poet made it up. Namely, this one: http://www.osmond-riba.org/lis/Graphics/Marlowe1.jpg

Actually, that's not so funny.

[n/a] oneglove › zodiac 14-Nov-05/7:44 AM Reply

i like his mustache

[n/a] ALChemy › zodiac 14-Nov-05/10:40 AM Reply

What's even funnier is that it's immediately preceeded by an even more popular cliche, "Shall be performed in twinkling of an eye."
I shit you not.
D. Faustus is like cliche reference book.

[n/a] zodiac › ALChemy 15-Nov-05/12:41 AM Reply

The point is, they weren't cliches until a really good writer used or coined them all, then everybody started copying him.

[n/a] ALChemy › zodiac 15-Nov-05/4:24 AM Reply

I get the point. I was just noting that Marlowe was so good he coined two cliches in two consecutive sentences.

[n/a] oneglove › ALChemy 14-Nov-05/7:44 AM Reply

i know what the other version is, i thought i'd make it my own

[n/a] zodiac › oneglove 14-Nov-05/9:34 AM Reply

There's no easy way to say this: I think it doesn't work.

[n/a] oneglove › zodiac 14-Nov-05/2:46 PM Reply

i hope it wasnt too hard to get that out, and it's fine that you think so, i'll agree its not my best work. it was posted awhile ago, and written long before that. but there is a sudden surge in interest for whatever reason.

[n/a] ALChemy › oneglove 14-Nov-05/10:44 AM Reply

plagiarism

n 1: a piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your own work 2: the act of plagiarizing; taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own

[n/a] oneglove › ALChemy 14-Nov-05/2:52 PM Reply

beyond hearing the phrase "the face that launched a thousand ships" i havent read the poem to go a long with it. so if the rest of the poem has anything to do with original than its coincidence. i was hardly trying to pass off the line as my own invention but merely referencing it as a starting point for my own thoughts.

[n/a] zodiac › oneglove 15-Nov-05/12:45 AM Reply

Oh, that makes you more respectable.

You'll probably be surprised to learn the poem (ie, really a play) isn't actually about Troy or Helen. Dr Faustus, having bargained away his soul for an infinite number of Magic Beans, wishes for Helen of Troy, only to find that she's a fantasy, and therefore pale and mindless. The question "Is this the face that launched a thousand ships?" is incredulous. Faustus doesn't think she's that great.

[n/a] oneglove › zodiac 15-Nov-05/8:14 AM Reply

that sounds good, i hope to see it sometime

[n/a] zodiac › oneglove 15-Nov-05/9:39 AM Reply

Okay. Just as long as you know the original answer to the question you've so erstwhilely copied is "Yes, but she wasn't worth it". Is that really what you're trying to associate your love with?

[n/a] oneglove › zodiac 15-Nov-05/12:15 PM Reply

unfortunatly, it appears to have ended that way.

[7] Dovina › oneglove 14-Nov-05/4:43 PM Reply

That doesn't work either. A compass points to magnetic north, which in my part of the world is about 16 degrees east of true north. Will you now say that he knew the magnetic declination?

[n/a] oneglove › Dovina 14-Nov-05/5:12 PM Reply

good job with the science lesson. obviously the only reason there even needs to be a distinction of true north is because of the magnetic north of the compass. good thing the figurative heart compass points to true love and not just magnetic love, huh?

[7] Dovina › oneglove 14-Nov-05/5:14 PM Reply

My compass points more often to magnetic love.

[n/a] oneglove › Dovina 14-Nov-05/6:28 PM Reply

unfortuntly mine seems to too

[n/a] ALChemy › Dovina 14-Nov-05/7:30 PM Reply

Mine points to radar love.