To Helen 爱伦坡(5页).doc
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1、-To Helen 爱伦坡-第 5 页To Helen is the first of two poems to carry that name written by Edgar Allan Poe. The 15-line poem was written in honor of Jane Stanard, the mother of a childhood friend. It was first published in 1831 collection Poems of Edgar A. Poe then reprinted in 1836 in the Southern Literar
2、y Messenger. Poe revised the poem in 1845, making several improvements, most notably changing the beauty of fair Greece, and the grandeur of old Rome to the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome. These improved lines are the most well-known lines of the poem.Background Edgar Allan Poe
3、 wrote “To Helen” as a reflection on the beauty of Mrs. Jane Stith Stanard, who died in 1824. She was the mother of one of Poes school classmates, Robert Stanard. When Robert invited Edgar, then 14, to his home in 1823, Poe was greatly taken with the 27-year-old woman, who is said to have urged him
4、to write poetry. He was later to write that she was his first real love. Theme 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 himor perhaps inspired himto write poetry. Beauty, as Poe uses the
5、 word in the poem, appears to refer to the womans soul as well as her body. On the one hand, he represents her as Helen of Troythe quintessence of physical beautyat the beginning of the poem. On the other, he represents her as Psychethe quintessence of soulful beautyat the end of the poem. In Greek,
6、 psyche means soul. Imagery and Summary of the Poem Poe opens the poem with a simile“Helen, thy beauty is to me / Like those Nican barks of yore”that compares the beauty of Helen with small sailing boats (barks) that carried home travelers in ancient times. He extends this boat imagery into the seco
7、nd 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. Stanards beauty and other admirable qualities, as well as her taking notice of Poes writing ability, helped inspire him to write poetry
8、that mimicked in some ways the classical tradition of Greece and Rome. Certainly the poems 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) stan
9、ding 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). For further information on the agate lamp, Psyche, and Eros, sees the comments opposite the third stanza.Analysis:As is typical with
10、 many of Poes poems, the rhythm and rhyme scheme of To Helen is irregular but musical in sound. The poem consists of three stanzas of five lines each, where the end rhyme of the first stanza is ABABB, that of the second is ABABA, and that of the third is ABBAB. Poe uses soothing, positive words and
11、rhythms to create a fitting tone and atmosphere for the poem. His concluding image is that of light, with a brilliant window niche and the agate lamp suggesting the glowing of the Holy Land, for which Helen is the beacon.To Helen is the first of two poems to carry that name written by Poe. The 15-li
12、ne poem was written in honor of Jane Stanard, the mother of a childhood friend. It was first published in 1831 collection Poems of Edgar A. Poe then reprinted in 1836 in the Southern Literary Messenger. Poe revised the poem in 1845, making several improvements, most notably changing the beauty of fa
13、ir Greece, and the grandeur of old Rome to the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome. These improved lines are the most well-known lines of the poem.Imagery and Summary of the PoemPoe opens the poem with a simile“Helen, thy beauty is to me / Like those Nican barks of yore”that compare
14、s the beauty of Helen with small sailing boats 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. S
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