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Ah, broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever!
Let the bell toll!- a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river;
And, Guy de Vere, hast thou no tear?- weep now or nevermore!
See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore!
Come! let the burial rite be read- the funeral song be sung!-
An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young-
A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young.
"Wretches! ye loved her for her wealth and hated her for her pride,
And when she fell in feeble health, ye blessed her- that she died!
How shall the ritual, then, be read?- the requiem how be sung
By you- by yours, the evil eye,- by yours, the slanderous tongue
That did to death the innocence that died, and died so young?"
Peccavimus; but rave not thus! and let a Sabbath song
Go up to God so solemnly the dead may feel no wrong.
The sweet Lenore hath "gone before," with Hope, that flew beside,
Leaving thee wild for the dear child that should have been thy
bride.
For her, the fair and debonair, that now so lowly lies,
The life upon her yellow hair but not within her eyes
The life still there, upon her hair- the death upon her eyes.
"Avaunt! avaunt! from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven-
From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven-
From grief and groan, to a golden throne, beside the King of
Heaven!
Let no bell toll, then,- lest her soul, amid its hallowed mirth,
Should catch the note as it doth float up from the damned Earth!
And I!- to-night my heart is light!- no dirge will I upraise,
But waft the angel on her flight with a Paean of old days!"
Edgar Allan Poe
Read poems about / on: funeral, innocence, hair, song, angel, heaven, evil, grief, pride, river, death, child, hope, light, life, god, night, children
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Click here to write your comments about this poem (Lenore by Edgar Allan Poe)
Sakura Tomoko (8/10/2008 7:03:00 PM)
Lenore was the name given to his wife who died from TB. She is referred to in the Raven by 'Whom the angels name, Lenore' (nameless here forever more)
He also wrote Anabel Lee about her. |
Ripper Moore (4/4/2008 12:57:00 PM)
Many poems can have meanings which, perhaps, the author did not intend. Poe depicts someone (himself?) attempting to deal with the grief inherent in the loss of a loved one, especially the tragedy of a youthful demise. To me, however, this poem is a reminder that the process and ceremony of a funeral is not for the benefit of the deceased, it is for the living, the ones left behind, who must continue to live, and come to terms with the fact that someone who was a part of their life is now gone. Whether we weep or rage or celebrate, or all of them in turn, like in this poem, the funeral gives us the opportunity and venue. |
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Edgar Allan Poe
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