Helen of Tyre by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Helen of Tyre appears as a phantom in the city's streets, where Israelites call her Jezebel. Simon Magus promises to lift her from shame and make her divine; she follows him from land to land until she vanishes into night. The speaker condemns his deceptive promises and describes Tyre itself as reduced to a shadow and a name.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Reflective Poetry · 409 words
First lines
What phantom is this that appears / Through the purple mist of the years, / Itself but a mist like these? / A woman of cloud and of fire; / It is she; it is Helen of Tyre, / The town in the midst of the seas.
O Tyre! in thy crowded streets / The phantom appears and retreats, / And the Israelites that sell / Thy lilies and lions of brass, / Look up as they see her pass, / And murmur "Jezebel!"
Genres
- Narrative Poetry — Rhymed six-line stanzas recount Helen's encounter with Simon Magus, his promises, and her wandering departure.
- Reflective Poetry — The speaker interrupts Helen's story to reflect on deceptive praise and concludes by contemplating the disappearance of Tyre.
Tags
apparitions · false promises · shame · vanished cities · narrative verse
What this Textopian page supports
Helen of Tyre is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Narrative Poetry, Reflective Poetry
- Length: 409 words
- Structure: 1 section, 7 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for Helen of Tyre by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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