To Helen 1 - A poem by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe - To Helen 1

Helen, thy beauty is to me
   Like those Nicæan barks of yore,
That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,
   The weary, wayworn wanderer bore
   To his own native shore.
   
On desperate seas long wont to roam,
   Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
   To the glory that was Greece
And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lo! in yon brilliant window-niche
   How statue-like I see thee stand,
   The agate lamp within thy hand!
Ah, Psyche, from the regions which
   Are Holy Land!

Added: on April 4th, 2007 at 9:00 AM | Viewed: 12295 times | Comments and analysis of To Helen 1 by Edgar Allan Poe Comments (30)

To Helen 1 - Comments and Information
Poet: Edgar Allan Poe Poem: To Helen 1 Year: Published/Written in 1831 Poem of the Day: Jul 25 2005 Comment 30 of 30, added on October 3rd, 2007 at 8:05 PM. The poem is hard to be understood due to my eastern background.i'm not familiar with the myths of Greece,but Helen was so famous for her beauty which lighted ten years war fire of Troy. The poem was inspired,as poe admitted,by Mrs.Jane Stanard.who died in 1824 when Allan was at the age of fifteen. Poe called her" the first purely idasl love of my soul", the draft of the poem was wroten when Poe was fourteen and rigorous revisions had been made before it first published in 1831. maybe the personal emotion of young poet was almost sublimated in the idealization of the supernal beauty in art which Poe had always insisted untill his death in 1849 Tony from China Comment 29 of 30, added on April 24th, 2007 at 4:53 PM. Actually Arielle is correct, the poem is in fact about Helen of Troy. I am not saying that there could not be some underlying meaning in the poem but on the AP exam the graders stated..."The following poem is about Helen of Troy...Renowned in teh ancient world for her beauty Helen was the wife of Menelaus, A Greek king..etc." Jocylin from United States Comment 28 of 30, added on April 4th, 2007 at 9:00 AM. why does he use the w..like i know its a repetitive words..with w? but why w..? ang from United States More Comments >> Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, To Helen 1, has received 30 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Edgar Allan Poe with others on the American Poems poetry forum!

Poem Info
Poet: Edgar Allan Poe Poem: To Helen 1 Year: Published/Written in 1831 Last read: May 16 2008, 7:31PM Poem of the Day: Jul 25 2005 Viewed 12295 times. Added on April 4th, 2007 at 9:00 AM.

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