To Helen  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death
Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses
That smiled and died in this parterre, enchanted
By thee, and by the poetry of thy presence.

Related e

Wikipedia
Wiktionary
Shop


Featured:

"To Helen" is the first of two poems to carry that name written by Edgar Allan Poe. The 15-line poem was written in honor of Jane Stanard, the mother of a childhood friend.It was first published in 1831 collection Poems of Edgar A. Poe then reprinted in 1836 in the Southern Literary Messenger. Poe revised the poem in 1845, making several improvements, most notably changing "the beauty of fair Greece, and the grandeur of old Rome" to "the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome." These improved lines are the most well-known lines of the poem.

Contents

Analysis

In "To Helen," Poe is celebrating the nurturing power of woman. Poe was inspired in part by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, particularly in the second line ("Like those Nicean barks of yore") which resembles a line in Coleridge's "Youth and Age" ("Like those trim skiffs, unknown of yore").

Allusions

Poe, in referring to Helen, may be alluding to the Greek goddess of light or Helen of Troy who is considered to be the most beautiful woman who ever lived, though there is not enough information given to determine for certain.

Full poem

Original 1831 version

<poem>Helen, thy beauty is to me

   Like those Nicean barks of yore, 

That gently, o'er a perfum'd sea,

   The weary way-worn 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 beauty of fair Greece, 

And the grandeur of old Rome.

Lo ! in that little window-niche

   How statue-like I see thee stand! 
   The folded scroll within thy hand — 

A Psyche from the regions which

   Are Holy land !</poem>

Revised 1845 version

<poem>Helen, thy beauty is to me Like those Nicean barks of yore That gently, o'er a perfumed sea, The weary, way-worn 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!</poem>

In popular culture




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "To Helen" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

Personal tools