18 pages • 36 minutes read
Edgar Allan PoeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“To Helen (earlier version)” by Edgar Allan Poe (1831)
This is the first publication of “To Helen.” Poe changed Lines 9 and 13 considerably between this version and the last version published in his lifetime. Originally, Poe wrote “To the beauty of fair Greece,” but changed it to “To the glory that was Greece” (Line 9). This adds the idea of glory to the poem instead of reiterating beauty. Poe also changed “The folded scroll” to “The agate lamp” (Line 13). Helen, instead of holding a scroll, is holding a lamp. This aligns her more with the mythological figure of Psyche and emphasizes her brightness as well as the overall imagery of light in the third stanza.
“To Helen (Sarah Helen Whitman)” by Edgar Allan Poe (1850)
This poem was written about a different woman Poe knew much later in life. It is good context to know he wrote two poems with the same title. This later and longer poem seems to be less frequently republished/anthologized than the earlier and shorter “To Helen” from 1831. Both poems are about beauty, a favorite poetic theme of Poe’s.
“Wild nights — Wild nights!’” by Emily Dickinson
By Edgar Allan Poe
A Dream Within a Dream
Edgar Allan Poe
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe
Berenice
Edgar Allan Poe
Hop-Frog
Edgar Allan Poe
Ligeia
Edgar Allan Poe
Tamerlane
Edgar Allan Poe
The Black Cat
Edgar Allan Poe
The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe
The Conqueror Worm
Edgar Allan Poe
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
Edgar Allan Poe
The Fall of the House of Usher
Edgar Allan Poe
The Gold Bug
Edgar Allan Poe
The Haunted Palace
Edgar Allan Poe
The Imp of the Perverse
Edgar Allan Poe
The Lake
Edgar Allan Poe
The Man of the Crowd
Edgar Allan Poe
The Masque of the Red Death
Edgar Allan Poe
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Edgar Allan Poe
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
Edgar Allan Poe
The Oval Portrait
Edgar Allan Poe