To Helen by Edgar Allan Poe

[hubag bohol]

                 Helen, thy beauty is to me
               Like those Nicean 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!

[hubag bohol]

Sarah Helen Whitman (1803-1878), the Helen for whom Poe wrote the above version of "To Helen"

[hubag bohol]

Jane Stith Stanard (d. 1824), the inspiration of the original version of "To Helen"

[hubag bohol]

                      Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849)

[gelyan]

thank you for sharing Edgar Allan Poe picture. Now I have an idea how he looks like. I remember him in my literature subject way back in high school.

[hubag bohol]

You're welcome, Ms. Gelyan. It's a journey down memory lane for me, too...