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!

Authorship

by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) , "To Helen", 1831

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Herman Behr (1847-) , "Helen", published 1933. [high voice and piano]
by James Philip Dunn (1884-1936) , "To Helen", published 1916. [voice and piano]
by John Edmunds (1913-1986) , "Helen" [baritone and piano]
by Cecil Forsyth (1870-1941) , "To Helen", published 1927. [partsong for TTBB chorus a cappella]
by Elliott Griffis (1893-1967) , "To Helen", published 1946 [medium voice and piano], from Songs from Poe, no. ?
by John Habash , "To Helen", published 1964.
by Joseph Kaufer (1909-) , "To Helen", published 1951, from Dover beach and other songs, no. ?
by Arthur Reginald Little , "Helen" [voice and piano]
by Charles Martin Tornov Loeffler (1861-1935) , "To Helen", op. 15 (Four Poems) no. 3 (1905), published 1906. [voice and piano]
by Walter Byron Mourant (1910-1995) , "To Helen" [medium voice and piano]
by Harry Edward Piggott , "To Helen", published 1953. [partsong for 2-part chorus with piano]
by Bertram Shapleigh (1871-1940) , "Helen, thy beauty is to me", op. 41 (Fünf Lieder) no. 1, published 1901 [voice and piano], note: also set in German
by Leo Smith (1881-1952) , "To Helen", published 1914 [voice and piano], from Four Songs
by Oscar George Theodore Sonneck (1873-1928) , "To Helen", op. 16 (Four Poems by Edgar Allan Poe) no. 1, published 1917. [baritone and piano]
by Warren Storey-Smith (1855-1971) , "To Helen", published 1917. [voice and piano]
by Cyril V. Taylor (1907-) , "To Helen", published 1930. [medium voice and piano]
by Myra Kinney Van Höveln-Carpé , "Thy naiad airs", op. 54b, published 1922. [voice and piano]

by Bertram Shapleigh (1871-1940) , "Helen, deiner Schönheit macht", op. 41 (Fünf Lieder) no. 1, published 1901 [voice and piano], note: also set in English

FRE French (Stéphane Mallarmé) , "Stances à Hélène"

Text added to the website: 2005-10-12.

Notes about green, red, and white dots

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Stances à Hélène

Hélène, ta beauté est pour moi
comme ces barques nicéennes d'autrefois
qui, sur une mer parfumée, portaient doucement
le défait et le las voyageur
à son rivage natal.

Par des mers désespérées longtemps coutumier d'errer,
ta chevelure hyacinthe, ton classique visage,
tes airs de Naïade m'ont ramené ainsi que chez moi
à la gloire qui fut la Grèce,
à la grandeur qui fut Rome.

Là ! dans cette niche splendide d'une croisée,
c'est bien comme une statue que je te vois apparaître,
la lampe d'agate en la main,
ah ! Psyché ! de ces régions issue qui
sont terre sainte.

Input by Guy Laffaille

Authorship

by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898) , "Stances à Hélène"

a text in English by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) , "To Helen", 1831 GER

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

[ None yet in the database ]

Text added to the website: 2011-09-03.