Page 74 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

“To Helen”
by Edgar Allan Poe, page 55

Vocabulary
barks – boats
Naiad – resembling a water-nymph of Greek mythology
agate – chalk

1. Find an allusion Poe makes to Greek mythology in this poem other than the reference to the
Naiads.

Poe also refers to Psyche, Eros’s mistress, who ultimately comes to embody our idea of the
soul.

2. To compare Helen’s beauty with “Nicean barks of yore,” Poe employs what literary
device?

The comparison is an example of simile.

“The Raven”
by Edgar Allan Poe, pages 55-58

Vocabulary
surcease – an end
obeisance – a bow or other gesture of respect
mien – aspect
Plutonian – of or relating to the underworld; hellish
countenance – face; facial expression
discourse – conversation
aptly – appropriately
Seraphim – angels
respite – relief
nepenthe – something that eases pain or causes one to forget a painful situation
quaff – drink

1. Read the poem’s first line. What is the literary term for a rhyme such as the rhyming of
“dreary” (in the middle of the line) with “weary” (at the line’s end)?

The literary term is internal rhyme.

2. Who is Lenore?

Lenore is a lost love of the speaker’s—lost because of death.

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