Who can tell me how to appreciate To Hellen?

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I'm doing some research about Allen Poe and his poems, but I am lack of the sources of material about his famous To Hellen and also the analysis. Who can help me, thanks!

-- Anonymous, April 29, 2001

Answers

"Helen"(of Troy? Stannard) "Nicaen barks"-Catullus reference, latin love poet, the boat that keeps him afloat is her ideal beauty. "weary, wayward, desperate seas"- troubled life of Poe? "classic face brought me home"- ideal beauty, art restores his soul "glory greece, grandeur rome"- ecstatically recalls golden age of artistic achievement. "window niche"- mind's eye? vigil lamp. "Psyche"(soul)lover of Cupid, the inner light of the mind. "those regions which are Holy land"- the past, the ideal, the classic, wherein his troubled life can always find repose and beauty waiting after terrible odysseys.

The Catullus reference is important in order to sort out the classical references, when first you might jump to Helen of Troy and the grrek ships or Ulysses and Penelope(never mentioned by name). This idealized love poem was an early one, but maturely revised over the years to become one of his best. Check out a good biography which references his works.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2001


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