Can someone explain to me what the poem "To Helen" by Edgar Allan Poe means?

Question

I have looked everywhere for an analysis on this poem, but I still did not understand. I want to know what the central message of this poem is. Is the writer of this poem trying to tell the reader of how beautiful Helen was? Was Poe referring to "Helen" as the actual "Helen of Troy" or "Helen" as another woman? I don't understand!

Answer 1

Background Edgar Allan Poe wrote “To Helen” as a reflection on the beauty of Mrs. Jane Stith Stanard, of Richmond, Va., who died in 1824.

She was the mother of one of Poe’s school classmates, Robert Stanard.



When Robert invited Edgar, then 14, to his home (at 19th and East Grace Streets in Richmond) in 1823, Poe was greatly taken with the 27-year-old woman, who is said to have urged him to write poetry. He was later to write that she was his first real love.



The theme of this short poem is the beauty of a woman with whom Poe became acquainted when he was 14. Apparently she treated him kindly and may have urged him–or perhaps inspired him–to write poetry.



Beauty, as Poe uses the word in the poem, appears to refer to the woman's soul as well as her body. On the one hand, he represents her as Helen of Troy–the quintessence of physical beauty–at the beginning of the poem. On the other, he represents her as Psyche–the quintessence of soulful beauty–at the end of the poem. In Greek, psyche means soul. For further information on Helen of Troy and Psyche, see the comments on the text of the poem.



Poe opens the poem with a simile–“Helen, thy beauty is to me / Like those Nicéan barks of yore”–that compares the beauty of Helen (Mrs. Stanard, Background) with small sailing boats (barks) that carried home travelers in ancient times. He extends this boat imagery into the second stanza, when he says Helen brought him home to the shores of the greatest civilizations of antiquity, classical Greece and Rome. It may well have been that Mrs. Stanard’s beauty and other admirable qualities, as well as her taking notice of Poe’s writing ability, helped inspire him to write poetry that mimicked in some ways the classical tradition of Greece and Rome. Certainly the poem’s allusions to mythology and the classical age suggest that he had a grounding in, and a fondness for, ancient history and literature. In the final stanza of the poem, Poe imagines that Mrs. Stanard (Helen) is standing before him in a recess or alcove in front of a window. She is holding an agate lamp, as the beautiful Psyche did when she discovered the identity of Eros (Cupid).

Answer 2

Yes it was about Helen Of Troy in a way.... It has been a long time, but I remember something about Poe being attracted to one of his friends mother's when he was a boy and he wrote this poem about her but he made her into Helen of Troy for the poem - as Helen was supposed to be the most beautiful woman... So yes, technically it is about Helen of Troy and how beautiful she is... That's about it

Answer 3

Edit: I didn't state clearly that I don't really think that the narrator is making reference to Helen of Troy, but to a real woman he knows whom he's calling Helen for the possible meaning of the name as referenced in the rest of the post below.



After having read it and thought about it, it seems to me that the narrator's love for Helen isn't physical, even though he recognizes her beauty. Everything that he mentions in relation to her beauty has nothing to do with anything sexual- and it all relates to ancient Greco-Roman civilization. And I think by continually referring to her beauty, he's using her beauty as the personification of her. He's saying her outer beauty is a reflection of her inner beauty; she's a beautiful person.

In the first stanza, he basically says that her beauty has brought him to his "native shore."

In the second stanza, he reveals that the "native shore", the "home" she's brought him to, is the "glory" of ancient Greece and the "grandeur" of ancient Rome. The reference to the Naiads does not seem obvious as far as meaning to me. But the Naiads were goddesses of freshwater springs, streams and wells- things which are sometimes used as symbolic of sources of wisdom, so perhaps that's what he means. She's a source of wisdom.

The third stanza seems in a way a little illogical. He's said she's already brought him "home." But in this stanza, she's standing in a brightly lighted window (opening to the world) with a lamp in her hand (enlightenment, light of education, lighting his path into the world, you name it). Plus, she looks like a statue, and I think he says that specifically to take away any thought of physical desire. Furthermore, agate symbolizes a balance between the physical and the spiritual.

Psyche was an entirely chaste human female, not interested in sex at all, apparently, until after she married Cupid and fell in love. And in modern terms, the psyche is the mind to some, the soul, to others.

I think that what he's saying is that Helen has been an inspiration for him to learn about classical Greece and Rome, and he's complimenting her for it. He wants to make it perfectly clear that he sees her beauty in terms of something other than sexual attraction. Her beauty goes beyond that.

As for her name, Helen of Troy was a woman that men were willing to follow, though not for the reasons the narrator of this poem wishes to follow this Helen- but Helen of Troy's name may have, in itself, been indicative of that quality, that is, that she would be followed.

Searching for an actual definition of the name comes up with conflicting information, but some of the suggested definitions are "torch" and "light", the application of which to this poem would be obvious. And the ancient Greeks are called"Hellenes"- the Greek word for Greece being "Hellas". The name "Greece" is from Latin, and not what the Greeks call/called themselves.

Perhaps you could extend Helen's influence to say that the third stanza simply indicates that she continues to influence the narrator to "better himself."

As I said, I think the poem's intended to be a compliment couched in terms of a shared interest (classical antiquity), and although the narrator's intent on flattering the lady's beauty, he intends to make the flattery as pure as pure can be.

Answer 4

To Helen

Edgar Allan Poe



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!









Meaning:

He uses Helen of Troy as analogy but talks about another beauty.

He's telling her that her beauty is capable of transporting him to an idyllic state (home). Women are often compared to seagoing vessels (the face that launched a thousand ships for instance). It tells us he is a romantic earthy type person.



Greece is considered one of the most enlightened, civilized and glorious civilizations in history. Rome controlled most of the civilized world at its peak which could create a lot of grandeur. I think by Holy Land he is referring to a sacred place (perhaps her presence is sacred to him).



Basically he is just telling her that he thinks she is beautiful, awesome and hot.