Poems of Poe
19. To Helen
There are two versions of this poem – ‘Poems’ (1831) and ‘The Raven and Other Poems’ (1845). This is the version from ‘The Raven and Other Poems’, with a few changes from the first version.
To Helen
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!
[Note: I just like to add my own little notes that I make while reading the poem, and you may add your own different little notes, that are just as good, while you read it.]
Our poet, when dreaming of an image of Helen (of Troy), doesn’t think of physical beauty, but he thinks of the beauty of the soul (psyche), and of how this led him to the ‘holy land’ of those stories of glory and grandeur, of ancient Greece and ancient Rome.