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"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. [ 1 ] It was first published in the 1831 collection Poems of Edgar A. Poe.
- Summary
- Structure
- Literary Devices
- Analysis, Stanza by Stanza
The speaker compares the mother of a close friend, Jane Stanard, to Helen throughout the three stanzas of ‘To Helen’. He speaks of her beauty and compares her to various figures from mythology. She is a guiding light to a weary traveling, the embodimentof the glory of Greece, and the home that all travelers are trying to get back to.
‘To Helen’ by Edgar Allan Poe is a three-stanza poem that is separated into sets of five lines. The first stanza follows a rhyme scheme of ABABB, the second CDCDC, and the third: EFFEF. There are also examples of half-rhyme in this pattern. For instance, the two “D” rhymes in the second stanza, “face” and “Greece”. Half-rhyme, also known as slant o...
Poe makes use of several literary devices in ‘To Helen’. These include but are not limited to alliteration, allusion, and enjambment. The first of these, alliteration, occurs when words are used in succession, or at least appear close together, and begin with the same sound. For example, “weary, way-worn wanderer” in stanza one and “hyacinth hair” ...
Stanza One
In the first lines of ‘To Helen,’ the speaker makes it clear that the “Helen” he is talking about is really a metaphor. Poe’s dedication to Jane Stanard, the mother of one of his friends, is symbolized through the universal admiration that follows Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world. By referring to her as “Helen” rather than Jane he is guaranteeing that all readers will know immediately of her importance to him. The first two lines of the poem also contain a simile. He is co...
Stanza Two
In the second stanza of ‘To Helen,’ the poet uses several more references to Greek and Roman mythology. He is romanticizing the past, painting it in a light that makes it seem more beautiful and ideal than it likely was. He compares the beauty of Helen in these lines to the “glory that was Greece” and the “grandeur that was Rome”. Her beauty, which has guided the wanderer (or the poet himself) through the roaming seas, has brought him “home”. Her hair and face were the guides. Poe also compar...
Stanza Three
In the third and final stanza of ‘To Helen’ the speaker begins with an exclamation. He draws the reader’s attention to a “brilliant window-niche” where he can see Helen stand. She’s as still as a statue, holding an “agate lamp” in her hand. This is a kind of stone through which light is reflected.She embodies light and warmth, providing him with a destination to aim for. He’s astonished by her beauty at this moment. In the last two lines, he speaks about “Psyche,” a beautiful mortal woman who...
- Female
- October 9, 1995
- Poetry Analyst And Editor
Edgar Allan Poe wrote "To Helen" in honor of a woman named Jane Stanard, who died many years before he published this poem in The Raven, and Other Poems (1845). The speaker of "To Helen" doesn't just see his beloved as beautiful.
‘To Helen’ is one of the most popular poems by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49). It still regularly appears in some of the best poetry anthologies – though, confusingly, Poe went on to write another poem with the same title. The ‘To Helen’ we reproduce below is, however, the famous and celebrated one.
First published in Poems (1831), To Helen is full of mythological imagery and consists of three quintains in iambic tetrameter with random rhyme patterns.
To Helen. By Edgar Allan Poe. Helen, thy beauty is to me. Like those Nicéan 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,
Apr 4, 2019 · “To Helen” — 1852 — Tales of Mystery and Imagination and Humour; and Poems, London: Henry Vizetelly (An undated edition appears about the same time, published by Charles H. Clark and Samuel Orchart Beeton, and their name appears as publisher for the second series), second series p. 246-249. (with no woodcut illustration) (this poem was ...
