EDGAR ALLAN POE
To HELEN (PAGE 225) This poem is a tribute of devotion to his boyhood friend, Mrs. Stannard. This lady s name was Jane, but Poe has given her in the poem the name of " Helen " as more fitting his tribute to her as a classic embodiment of beauty. beauty: the beauty of Helen of Troy. Nicean barks: it is impos sible to say exactly what this allusion means. It is altogether likely that Poe has here simply used some word of his own formed with a vague suggestion of antiquity. wanderer: Odysseus, or Ulysses. hyacinth: lovely as Hyacinthus, favorite of Apollo. Naiad: a nymph who pre sided over lakes, brooks, and fountains. The term is therefore sugges tive of exquisite grace. Psyche: the Greek word for " soul " and also the name of a beautiful maiden whom Cupid loved and wedded.
QUESTIONS, i. Is this poem notable for its thought or for its grace
of delicacy? 2. Lines 9 and 10 are two of Poe s best-known and most frequently quoted lines. Explain the fitness of the words " glory " and
"grandeur."
ISRAFEL (PAGE 227)
"Whose heart-strings are a lute ": Israfel, the angel of music, was
supposed to have the sweetest voice of all God s creatures. hymns:
the reference is to " the music of the spheres " which the stars were
supposed to make in their courses, levin: lightning. Pleiads: Poe
here refers to the legend of a lost Pleiad by his use of the past tense,
"Which were seven." Where Love s a grown-up God: Poe seems to think of the god of love, usually represented as a boy, as grown to full manhood in heaven, for love becomes perfect there.
QUESTIONS, i. What is the vision of power that the poet has, and
what dismays him? 2. Compare the closing thought with that of Shelley s "To a Skylark."
THE RAVEN (PAGE 228)
Poe has fully set forth his methods and his purpose in this poem in the essay entitled "Philosophy of Composition." lost Lenore: Poe is said to have told Mrs. A. B. Shelton, formerly Miss Royster (his first sweetheart, whose father brought the love
