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What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
Direct allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Youth and Age where he says,
How lightly then it flashed along,
Like those trim skiffs, unknown of yore.
Nicean barks refers to the moment that the victorious Greek ships sailed home after the Trojan War. As beautiful as this moment was, Helen is even more beautiful. The mention of Nicea is important to emphasize the majesty of victory as Nicea is named for the Greek goddess of victory Nike (yes the shoe company is named after this goddess)
Notice the use of the word like, meaning that this is a simile. A simile that extends for many lines, like this one, is referred to as a Homeric simile or an epic simile.
Preferment goes by letter and affection
And not by old gradation, where each second
Stood heir to the first. William Shakespeare – Othello Act 1 Scene 1
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
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What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
The Lupercalia was a festival celebrated from February 13 to the 15th to avert evil spirits and purify the city. Specifically the festival worships Lupa the she-wolf who raised the two infant orphans Romulus and Remus who eventually founded the city of Rome.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
A reference to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs which was a psychological theory proposed by Abraham Maslow in 1943.
Milo’s pain in this song is felt from his lonliness and is due to the third level of the pyramid. This shows that although his physiological needs and security needs are taken care of, this sense of lonliness ensures that he has still has pains he has to get off his chest.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
An allusion to Helen of Troy who in mythology is said to have been one of the most beautiful woman who ever lived. So beautiful, in fact, that according to many Greek writer–such as Homer, Herodotus, and Virgil–is believed to have been the cause the Trojan War.
While it is likely this poem was in response to Sarah Helen Whitman, who previously had written a poem to Poe entitled “To Edgar Allan Poe”, it is equally possible Poe was writing about Jane Stanard, the mother of one of Poe’s childhood friends, who died of brain cancer. Before dying, she became deranged, which Poe observed first hand at the age of 14. Mrs. Stanard was only one of the many tragic deaths Poe encountered in his younger years, of which likely shaped his character as a poet later in life.
Poe wrote this “To Helen” in 1831, when he was 22. This Helen is attributed to Jane Stanard. His other “To Helen” (1845) is attributed to Sarah Helen Whitman.