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!
This poem seems to be an ode to Helen of Troy, or else it's to a woman named Helen and he is using references to Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in Greece who caused the Trojan War, as a means to express his admiration.
Poe makes multiple references to Ancient Greece: "Nicean barks"(2), "Naiad airs"(8), "Glory that was Greece./And the grandeur that was Rome."(9,10), "Psyche"(14)
Also makes references to Grecian characteristics that are romanticized and admired: "Perfumed sea", "way worn wanderer", "native shore", "hyacinth hair", "classic face", "statue like", "lamp within they hand", etc.
The short verses and rhymes on the end of the lines give it the feel of a love poem, too. It's not really a complex poem, but is written in admiration and is supposed to be charming.
The poem is divvied up chronologically, whith the wandering sailor longing for Helen's beauty in the first verse, coming home from the seas in the second, and finally seeing her and admiring her in the third verse.
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