To Helen by Edgar Allen Poe
Objectives: Students will be able to gain deeper understanding of the poems through the poet’s use of allusion.
Do Now: What’s allusion in the line” what’s your Achilles’ heel?” What’s the difference between the use of an allusion and simply stating the meaning?
Mini Lesson
What’s an allusion?
Allusion is a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers.
Why does an an author use it?
Look up the meaning of the words in bold faces.
Who is the speaker?
What’s the subject?
What pictures do the examples of allusion paint in your mind?
Describe Helen’s beauty from the speaker’s perspective.
What is the tone? What’s the theme? How do you know?
To Helen
Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicéan 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!
Independent Practice
Analyse how the poet uses allusion to convey his views toward beauty.
Homework: Compete the analysis. Be sure to use textual evidence to support your ideas.