To Helen
Edgar Allan Poe was born on 19 January 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, US, and he died on 7 October 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland, US, at the age of 40.
A writer, poet, editor, and critic, Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre, and is widely regarded as a central figure of American Romanticism. He was one of the country’s earliest practitioners of the short story, was considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre, and was a significant contributor to the emerging genre of science fiction.
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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!