Edgar saw in Sarah Helen Whitman, the reappearance of his boyhood love, Jane Stith Stanard, the mother of childhood friend, Robert Stanard. Mrs. Stanard demonstrated the tenderness and sensitivity he craved so deeply having lost his own mother to tuberculosis at a very tender age. Mrs. Stanard removed, momentarily the fear of loneliness that would follow Poe to his grave. She was a great source of encouragement to Edgar during this period. She was his first real love, his Helen of Troy for whom he would write the poem, "To Helen" at the young age of fourteen. Fate however, would once again deny Poe the sympathy and comfort he so yearned by taking Mrs. Stanard from his world at the young age of 31. Poe again found himself engulfed in the feeling of loneliness and deprived of love.

Was it destiny that brought Edgar Allan Poe once again to his dear, sweet Helen in the form of Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman? The two lovers certainly believed so.
"I believe that the spirit of her who bore this beloved name, has always hovered
around him, and that it was in some way, through her influence that he was drawn
to me" (Sarah Helen Whitman to Mrs. Clemm)

They were both born on January 19, Whitman 6 years before Poe. Their demeanor was similar. They were both eccentric, sorrowful, fatalistic and obsessed with fulfilling fantasy. Their imaginations ruled their psyches. Both lived among literary circles: Whitman writing, Poe writing and lecturing. Upon hearing Sarah Helen's name Poe was immediately convinced that fate brought their souls together. "Helen - my Helen - the Helen of a thousand dreams!" Helen - the name Poe used synonymously with angel, sympathy, kindness and comfort. How good it was of sweet fortune to return his Helen to him. Poe was wild with ecstasy. He could barely control his excitement and immediately took to writing the Dear Mrs. Whitman, even using pseudonyms as he had yet to be introduced to her. Was it destiny that the two poets would initially converse through rhyme and letters?