A Paean Poem by Edgar Allan Poe

A Paean

Rating: 3.3


How shall the burial rite be read?
The solemn song be sung?
The requiem for the loveliest dead,
That ever died so young?

II.

Her friends are gazing on her,
And on her gaudy bier,
And weep! - oh! to dishonor
Dead beauty with a tear!

III.

They loved her for her wealth -
And they hated her for her pride -
But she grew in feeble health,
And they love her - that she died.

IV.

They tell me (while they speak
Of her 'costly broider'd pall')
That my voice is growing weak -
That I should not sing at all -

V.

Or that my tone should be
Tun'd to such solemn song
So mournfully - so mournfully,
That the dead may feel no wrong.

VI.

But she is gone above,
With young Hope at her side,
And I am drunk with love
Of the dead, who is my bride. -

VII.

Of the dead - dead who lies
All perfum'd there,
With the death upon her eyes,
And the life upon her hair.

VIII.

Thus on the coffin loud and long
I strike - the murmur sent
Through the grey chambers to my song,
Shall be the accompaniment.

IX.

Thou died'st in thy life's June -
But thou did'st not die too fair:
Thou did'st not die too soon,
Nor with too calm an air.

X.

From more than fiends on earth,
Thy life and love are riven,
To join the untainted mirth
Of more than thrones in heaven -

XII.

Therefore, to thee this night
I will no requiem raise,
But waft thee on thy flight,
With a Pæan of old days.

Thursday, March 25, 2010
Topic(s) of this poem: death
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Leas Celyn 13 February 2011

to know he wrote this from his sorrow and love makes this bittersweet...as always, i deeply love his works

63 14 Reply
Phil Winter 29 July 2010

Words that make music and touch the soul!

41 22 Reply
Susan Williams 12 January 2016

There is a lot of pain in this Paean. Yes, Poe was capable of great emotion and it served him well in such works as The Bells and The Tell-Tale Heart. Emotion is at the core of every great suspense and mystery and murder story- Poe knew how to deliver suspense, terror, horror. This same capacity for evoking emotion was the wings for his love poetry. Poe delivers.

51 6 Reply
Gabby J 26 May 2013

I fall in love with every word of every poem of this master of poetry. Melodramatic, I know I may be but it does not change what is clearly seen

31 16 Reply
Kumarmani Mahakul 10 April 2018

Beautifully inscribed on death. Touching expression.

2 2 Reply
T. Plotz 10 April 2018

Oh the woe of Poe and his Triumph Paean - song of praise for their young wife's pasting. Sounds to have celebrated the requiem with euphoric and exaltation; and yet, with violently uses of the word raven. Word Master.

2 2 Reply
T. Plotz 10 April 2018

Riven - darn auto correct

0 0
Nudershada Cabanes 10 April 2018

As with his other works Poe often made death a theme of most of his poems and short stories with masterful execution.

2 2 Reply
Edward Kofi Louis 10 April 2018

Death beauty with a tear! Thanks for sharing.

1 2 Reply
Bernard F. Asuncion 10 April 2018

Such a great poem by Edgar Allan Poe👍👍👍

1 3 Reply
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