To Helen

“To Helen” is a lyric romantic poem. Romanticism as a poetic genre was a movement that began in the 18th century in England and Europe. It included poets such as William Blake, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Coleridge. Romantic poets rejected scientific practices in favor of imagination and emotion. Romanticism also frequently references classical works, often implying modern works can never live up to the greatness of ancient works of literature. “To Helen” alludes to several classical works, especially The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer and the lost text Cypria by Stasinus.

The Iliad describes the war between the Acheans (Greeks) and Trojans, incited by the love of a beautiful woman: Helen of Troy. Helen is described by Christopher Marlowe, famous English Renaissance poet, as possessing “the face that launched a thousand ships” in his work The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus. This connects Helen’s beauty with the ability to bring men across the sea, which is seen in Poe’s poem. The sequel to The Iliad, The Odyssey, follows the Greek hero of the Trojan war, Odysseus, traveling home to return to his wife, much like the wanderer in the first stanza of “To Helen.