Stanza One

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.

In the first lines of ‘To Helen,’  the speaker makes it clear that the “Helen” he is talking
about is really a metaphor. Poe’s dedication to Jane Stanard, the mother of one of his
friends, is symbolized through the universal admiration that follows Helen of Troy, the
most beautiful woman in the world. By referring to her as “Helen” rather than Jane he
is guaranteeing that all readers will know immediately of her importance to him. 

The first two lines of the poem also contain a simile. He is comparing the woman’s
beauty to the old ships from Nicaea, an important ancient city (now named Iznik) on
the west coast of Turkey. 
These ships of old carried passengers gently “o’er” or over, ( an example of syncope)
the sea. Specifically, the speaker refers to a “weary, way-worn wanderer”. Helen’s
beauty is like the relief and appreciation that this wanderer would feel for the ship that
bore him away from his struggles to his home. There are at least two allusions that
scholars generally associate with these lines. First, Poe is thinking of the Catullus, a
Latin poet who Poe studied. Secondly, these lines refer to Odysseus and his prolonged
journey home from the Trojan war. 

Stanza Two

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.

In the second stanza of ‘To Helen,’ the poet uses several more references to Greek and
Roman mythology. He is romanticizing the past, painting it in a light that makes it seem
more beautiful and ideal than it likely was. He compares the beauty of Helen in these
lines to the “glory that was Greece” and the “grandeur that was Rome”. Her beauty,
which has guided the wanderer (or the poet himself) through the roaming seas, has
brought him “home”. Her hair and face were the guides. 

Poe also compares her in these lines to a “Naiad,” or a beautiful, magical, although not
divine, being that lives near a specific body of water. 

Stanza Three 

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!

In the third and final stanza of ‘To Helen’  the speaker begins with an exclamation. He
draws the reader’s attention to a “brilliant window-niche” where he can see Helen
stand. She’s as still as a statue, holding an “agate lamp” in her hand. This is a kind of
stone through which light is reflected.  She embodies light and warmth, providing him
with a destination to aim for. He’s astonished by her beauty at this moment. 

In the last two lines, he speaks about “Psyche,” a beautiful mortal woman who was
shot with one of cupid’s arrows and made to fall in love with a bull. The speaker is
clearly in love with this woman, therefore he is casting himself as another character in
this story, cupid. She is from the “regions which / Are Holy-Land”. She’s divine,
originating from another world that he can get close to but can’t reach.