ABSTRACT
Helen and Menelaus) Date and publication. Printed in 1685 in Sylvae (S R 10 January; advertised in The Observator 1 January); reprinted 1692.
Context. Stuart Gillespie (R E S xli (1990) 365-9) suggests that this translation was made as a complimentary poem for the marriage of Princess Anne (daughter of the Duke of York) to Prince George of Denmark on 28 July 1683. The marriage could have provided a politically uncontroversial heir for James, but instead the princess’s pregnancy resulted in a still birth on 30 April 1684. The poem might have been written in 1683 for the marriage, or early in 1684 in anticipation of a birth (cp. D .’s additions at 11. 36, 86-7), and printed in 1685 without any topical allusions since the moment for celebration had passed.
