Selected Poems

of Edgar Allan
Poe
Study Guide by Course Hero

and Other Poems, in 1827 until his death in 1849. Two poems
What's Inside were published posthumously. The five poems analyzed in this
guide span that career, beginning with "A Dream within a
Dream" (1827) and "Sonnet—To Science" (1829). From this
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 traditional 14-line sonnet, to "Dream-Land" (1844), to the
bewitching "The Bells" (c. 1848), and finally to the hauntingly
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1
lyrical "Annabel Lee" (1849), the poems presented here reflect
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 4 Poe's vast imagination, his deft use of language for emotional
impact, his fears and obsessions, and his sublime, exalted
h Characters ................................................................................................... 5 sense of beauty.

k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 6

c Poem Summaries ..................................................................................... 8

d In Context
g Quotes ......................................................................................................... 15
Edgar Allan Poe began writing poetry during his adolescent
l Symbols ...................................................................................................... 18
years. In both literature and poetry, he was among several

m Themes ....................................................................................................... 19 notable contributors to Dark Romanticism, a unique genre

combining Romantic and Gothic styles. Poe further influenced
b Narrative Voice ....................................................................................... 22 American literary culture with his lectures and essays on the
ideal form and nature of poetry. These ideas as well as his
prose and poetry would posthumously inspire a literary
movement in France known as Symbolism.
j Book Basics
AUTHOR From Romanticism to Dark
Edgar Allan Poe
Romanticism
YEARS PUBLISHED
1827–49 In the late 18th century, a literary, artistic, and philosophical
movement called Romanticism (c. 1790–1830) emerged in the
GENRE
Western world. It embraced a subjective, imaginative,
Fantasy, Horror, Science
transcendental vision of reality while rejecting the orderly
AT A GLANCE standards, materialism, and rationalism of the preceding
While Edgar Allan Poe is best known for his tales of horror, Neoclassical period (c. 1660–1790). With an emphasis on
poetry was his original venue. By the time his award-winning emotional spontaneity, individualism, and self-expression,
story "MS. Found in a Bottle" gained him recognition in 1833, he Romanticism transformed literature and other arts. It featured
had published three volumes of verse. Poe's poetry career a reverence for nature and for childhood's innocence and
extended from his first self-published collection, Tamerlane wonder. It drew inspiration from the ancient bards, the
Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide In Context 2

medieval period, and mythological realms. Romantic works by truth they feel certain lies beyond what their senses can
poets such as William Wordsworth (1770–1850) and Samuel perceive. Yet, their eagerness to discover the essence of that
Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) appealed to the senses and beauty and the true nature of existence is mingled with
passions, and rather than reflecting reality, they sought to pessimism. They may abhor or fear what they find. With a
reveal the hidden essence and nature of their subjects. seasoning of Gothic elements, the poems conjure visions of
strange, forlorn landscapes steeped in mystery and the
In America the Romantic movement took hold in the first half of supernatural, and they evoke feelings of isolation, fear,
the 1800s. It was nurtured by a rising literary, philosophical, bewilderment, dreadful yearning, and sorrow.
and spiritual movement: American Transcendentalism (c.
1836–1860). Transcendentalists held that life may be intuitively
understood; for them, knowledge and truth lay beyond, or
transcended, what the senses perceived. Insight was superior
The Poetic Principle
to logic, and subjective experience revealed the deepest
Edgar Allan Poe is best known for his short tales of horror
truths. These ideas dovetailed neatly with the fundamentals of
such as "The Cask of Amontillado" (1846) and Gothic tales
Romanticism. The Romantics rejected realism, rationalism,
such as "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839). However,
religious dogma, and tradition. Instead, they emphasized
Poe's first love as a writer was poetry. He firmly believed a
individualism, an idealized view of nature, and respect for self-
poem was "The Rhythmical Creation of Beauty" and, to be
discovered truth.
called a poem, it should uplift the soul. To achieve this, the

Among American writers of the time, there were some who poem must adhere to certain principles. Poe laid out his

believed the optimistic outlook of the Romanticists and philosophy in an essay titled "The Poetic Principle." His

Transcendentalists was too idealistic and naive. They held a innovative ideas had a profound and lasting effect on literature.

much darker, more pessimistic view of human nature and First presented in lectures in 1848 and 1849, "The Poetic

potential. In their writing, a subgenre of Romanticism emerged Principle" was published posthumously in 1850.

called Dark Romanticism. It was laced with Gothic literary

Poe's principles diverged from ideas held by his
elements of darkness, the supernatural, terror, and madness.
contemporaries in certain key areas: the ideal length of a
Gothic tales of terror had emerged in England in 1764 with
poem, its desired effect, and its purpose. For one, Poe claimed
publication of the novel The Castle of Otranto. Plots were
that "a long poem does not exist." This conflicted with the view
threaded with illness, death, sinister secrets, and mounting
of many major Romantic poets, who favored long poems. Poe
horror. Settings were often remote, dark, and eerie, with dull,
argued an effective poem stirs the reader's emotions "by
cheerless landscapes and forlorn, decaying structures.
elevating the soul" and sustaining that emotional response
However, in contrast to Gothic fiction, Dark Romanticism was
throughout the work. Because "all excitements are, through a
more concerned with the spiritual force of nature, perceiving
psychal necessity, transient," this impassioned response will
nature as inherently mysterious and threatening. The Dark
begin to flag with more than a half hour of reading. The poem
Romantics also explored the elusive essence of beauty and
then loses its emotional potency, and the reader loses interest,
truth, the hidden aspects of human nature, and the existence
or worse, "revulsion ensues." The work can no longer achieve
of evil. Unlike Romanticism, Dark Romanticism was shaped by
the desired effect and, therefore, can no longer be considered
a distrustful view of the world and reality. Dark Romantics
a poem.
questioned the inherent goodness of humankind and delved
into the darkness at the heart of existence. Based on this principle, Poe employed brevity in composing his
poems while seeking to build and sustain their emotional
Among the notable American Dark Romantic writers were
intensity. In his essay Poe takes care to clarify that, while a
Herman Melville (1819–91), Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64),
poem should not be too long, neither should it be too short. An
and—quintessentially—Edgar Allan Poe. The traits of Dark
unduly short poem may produce a "brilliant or vivid" effect, but
Romanticism infuse the five poems selected for this study
it will fail to produce anything "profound or enduring." In other
guide. The poet's approach to their individual topics is purely
words, the poem must strike a delicate balance. It must be long
subjective and expresses a dark transcendental vision of
enough to elevate the soul into the realm of the sublime and
reality. The speakers are passionate seekers of the beauty and
beautiful yet short enough to sustain emotional intensity.

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide In Context 3

According to Poe, when a poem is composed along these lines, the length of each poem. The longest, "The Bells," is only four
the desirable effect is unity—a "totality of ... impression." At the stanzas and 113 lines long. In keeping with Poe's theories, the
conclusion of a poem, the reader will be left with a single, clear brevity of the poems allows the poet to build and sustain
impression of its essence. Similar to a work of art or a piece of emotional intensity to the end, for a strong, enduring effect.
music, all stanzas or sections of the poem should work in For example, "The Bells" begins with a lightness of spirit that
harmony to create the whole in style and mood. Poe asserted stanza by stanza spirals into hopelessness, never releasing the
this unity was not possible in lengthy works of poetry such as reader emotionally until the final bell tolls out death.
English poet John Milton's (1608–74) "Paradise Lost" (1667).
Such ambitious epics he describes as "a series of minor While keeping the poems artfully brief, Poe also seeks to

poems" incapable of producing a single "absolute effect" in the achieve a unity of effect, leaving the reader with a single, clear

reader. impression of the poem's emotional essence. For instance, by

the end of "A Dream within a Dream," the reader is immersed in
Poe also differed sharply with his contemporaries on the the speaker's despair that reality and time elude our grasp.
purpose of poetry. Many among them clung to a philosophy
called Didacticism. They believed "the ultimate object of all In his poems, Poe also avoids moral instruction for the reader.

Poetry is Truth," feeling their work should provide moral None of the selected poems attempt to teach. Poe's goal is to

instruction for their readers. Poe argued this viewpoint had led provide a glimpse of the beautiful. For example, in "Dream-

to "the corruption of our Poetical Literature." Beauty is "the Land," the speaker hints at the divine and rapturous joys

province of the poem." Truth demands a "cool, calm, reserved, just out of his reach, for the occupants of Dream-

unimpassioned" mood that is the antithesis of the passion and Land (the dead). Poe draws the reader to this awareness of

intensity of the "Poetic Sentiment." He argued the human mind the Ideal, intending to awaken an imaginative and emotional

delights in "a sense of the Beautiful." Poets seek to enter the response. By appealing to the reader's senses and emotions,

elusive realm of Beauty, bringing readers with them, if only for this and the other poems become vehicles of perception and

"brief and indeterminate glimpses" of its "divine and rapturous catalysts for arousing a response.

joys." The poet's "wild effort" to capture "supernal Loveliness"

Poe strives to capture and express his imaginings with deftly
allows readers to understand and feel Beauty, to enter
chosen lyrics. With language and meter, he seeks to unify and
Beauty's domain. This is the essence of Poetic Sentiment,
harmonize these visions and emotions. The is exemplified in
which could never be attained by attempts to mix "the
"The Bells," where the voice of the bells discernibly changes in
obstinate oils and waters of Poetry and Truth."
pitch, tone, and tempo in keeping with their purpose and

Finally, in his essay, Poe argues for the supremacy of the lyric meaning. In "Annabel Lee," language and rhythm suggest the

in providing "the true poetical effect." In lyrics, the poet flow and ebb of tidewaters, reflecting the location of events

captures the world as perceived through the senses. These and the maiden's tomb. Throughout the selected works, with

perceptions are "the ambrosia which nourishes his soul." The skillful use of language, Poe reaches for his poetic ideals of

poet finds this ambrosia (food of the gods) in the riches of unity, harmony, and emotional intensity.

nature. These riches range from the beauty of the heavens to

the "star-mirroring depths of lonely wells." They include the
songs of birds, the night wind, and the scent of "far-distant Poe and the Symbolist
undiscovered islands" carried to him over oceans during the
evening. The poet's soul is nourished by the noble thoughts, Movement
motives, impulses, and deeds of humankind. And the poet is
nurtured by "the beauty of woman" and more deeply still by the Symbolism was a major literary movement that began in
"divine majesty of her love." These perceptions find lyrical France in the late 19th century. While Poe's work predates the
expression, elevating the soul and producing a unified, movement, he is considered one of its influential forerunners.
harmonious, emotionally intense effect. In time the movement expanded to enrich art as well.

The five poems selected for this study guide illustrate Poe's Symbolists looked to dreams, visions, and free association of
theories about poetry in several ways. The most easily noted is the mind for inspiration. They sought access to ideas and

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Author Biography 4

greater truths beyond the barriers of reality. Like the Poe's wife, Virginia, would also die from disease, as would his
Romantics, they rejected rationalism, realism, and materialism brother, Henry. Poe went to live with John and Frances Allan
in favor of a purely subjective outlook on life and reality. In (the source of his middle name), who provided a home and a
keeping with Poe's poetic principles, they believed art should basic education. Poe had a contentious relationship with John
be an expression of emotions and ideas as opposed to Allan because of conflicting personalities and social statuses,
realistically mirroring the world. Meaning was achieved through as well as Allan's disapproval of Poe's gambling debts and
a work's emotional effect. pursuit of a college education.

Poe's legacy in France was initiated by French poet Charles In 1826 Poe enrolled at the University of Virginia. However, he
Baudelaire (1821–67) in 1847. Poe's stories intrigued him, and didn't have enough money to pay his tuition, so he gambled and
he devoted himself to translating Poe's work into French. This fell into debt. John Allan refused to offer any financial help, and
brought it to the attention of influential French authors. Chief Poe was forced to leave the university. Poe next spent several
among these were Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–98), an originator years in the army. He even attended West Point in hopes of
of the Symbolist movement, and Paul Valéry (1871–1945), becoming an officer but never graduated because he was
considered the last of the French Symbolists. Within the dismissed in 1830 for breaking institutional rules.
movement, Poe's writing and philosophical ideas concerning
poetry and composition were a guiding light. They inspired a
form of verse called pure poetry, a style of message-free verse Poe's Literary Career
delighting in the musical nature of language.
Following his dismissal, Poe struggled to make his living from a
In his short stories and poetry, Poe made extensive use of
range of literary activities. Already he had self-published two
symbolism. In writing, symbols represent ideas and qualities
poetry collections: Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827) and Al
beyond their literal sense, adding layers of meaning and
Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (1829). He continued to
emotion to a work. For example, in Poe's poem "Annabel Lee,"
publish his own work—a third book of verse, then fiction and
the subject is the death of a young woman beloved by the
nonfiction. He worked for several magazines, as both writer
speaker. Symbolically the poem's events represent larger ideas
and editor, often shifting positions in search of better financial
that haunted Poe: the death of a beautiful woman and the
opportunities. During Poe's lifetime, his editorial work was
transcendence of love beyond death. Annabel Lee embodies
influential, but in a historical context his editorial labors pale
universal beauty and youth; she is every woman who is loved.
beside his poetry, criticism, and fiction.
Without symbolism the poem is little more than a sad story.
Throughout Poe's writing, symbols like this provoke thought As a critic, Poe was often vicious and became known for his
and an emotional response; they add richness, color, and scathing reviews. This earned him the nickname "Tomahawk
layers of meaning. They render his works powerful and Man." The combativeness of his reviews and of his personality
unforgettable. strained some of his professional relationships and fueled
public feuds between Poe and other literary figures of his day.
But despite his cutthroat criticism, he was an advocate for
a Author Biography writers' rights and spoke out in favor of higher wages and
international copyright law.

As a poet, Poe is best known for his lyric poems. Critics praise
Early Life and Education them for their control and technical expertise, but readers may
focus more on the imagery and subject matter. Poe often
From his earliest years until his death, Edgar Allan Poe had a wrote about love, death, and longing. His best-known poems,
personal life marked by difficulties. However, his professional such as "To Helen" (1831), "The Raven" (1845), and "Annabel
life as a writer and critic was influential. Born January 19, 1809, Lee" (1849), blend these attributes and are considered among
he was the second child of David and Elizabeth Poe, who were the greatest lyric poems in English.
traveling actors. Poe's father left the family when Edgar was an
infant, and both parents died before he was three. Years later,

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Characters 5

Man of Genius Annabel Lee

As a fiction writer, Poe worked at a time when the short story Annabel Lee is a young, beautiful, noble maiden who, in life,
was emerging as a distinct art form, and his contributions to its loves the speaker in the poem bearing her name. Childlike in
development were significant. He is considered by many to be her innocence and devotion to her lover, she is the object of
the father of the detective story as well as of modern envy for the angels of Heaven, who cause her to die. However,
psychological horror. Poe's contemporary James Russell if the speaker is to be believed, their attempt to sever her soul
Lowell said if Poe hadn't written anything else, "The Fall of the from his has failed. Even in death, her love endures. Annabel
House of Usher" would be enough to mark him as a "man of Lee is the epitome of loveliness and youth, rendered forever so
genius." by death. For the poet, she represents "the most poetical topic
in the world": the untimely death of a beautiful and beloved
In his highly influential work The Fantastic (1973), Bulgarian- young woman.
French literary critic Tsvetan Todorov discusses this story as
balanced between the fantastic (in which an event occurs that
seems to be between realms, not fully explicable) and the
uncanny (which can be rationally explained, but which is
upsetting or even shocking). English professor Terry Heller,
author of The Delights of Terror (1987), focuses on the
narrator's role in "The Fall of the House of Usher" as he
analyzes the aesthetics of horror stories. The story's powerful
and unified emotional effect on the reader, combined with its
not-fully-explicable events, continues to generate critical
reflection.

Death and Legacy

From the untimely death of his parents to that of his first wife,
Virginia, who died in 1847, Poe was beset with loss. He was
raised in semi-aristocratic circumstances but denied entry into
that society by his foster-father, thus furthering his sense of
abandonment and both the grief and the resentment
accompanying it. Frequent changes in his work and residence
and the inability to focus on his creative output likely
contributed to these feelings. Not surprisingly, he struggled
with drinking and depression throughout his life, dying alone in
Baltimore on October 7, 1849, under mysterious
circumstances. Though Poe never achieved financial success
as a writer in his lifetime, today he is one of America's most
famous, influential, and enduring authors.

h Characters

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Plot Summary 6

Full Character List k Plot Summary

Character Description
A Dream within a Dream
In the poem "Annabel Lee," the title
character Annabel Lee is a young maiden
"A Dream within a Dream" has a long history. It was first
who loves and is loved by the speaker.
Annabel Lee roughly penned in 1827 and then refined and published in 1849,
When the angels in Heaven grow jealous
of their love, they send a chilling wind to after the death of Poe's beloved wife, Virginia. The poem
kill Annabel Lee.
questions the reality of existence. With a kiss the speaker bids
a loved one farewell. Then pondering the hopelessness he
The king of the Ghouls in the final stanza
feels, he questions whether it matters. If existence is only a
of the poem "The Bells" gleefully tolls the
King of the melancholy iron bells of death as he dream within a dream, then hope is also an illusion.
Ghouls dances and yells. His merriment darkly
mirrors the merriment foretold by the Even so, the speaker cannot resign himself to that possibility.
silver bells in the opening stanza. Standing on a turbulent seashore, he watches grains of sand,
like time and memories, slip through his fingers into the
The tale told in "Annabel Lee" is tumbling surf. He rails against his inability to hold on to just one
recounted by her lover. He is young when
grain and prays all "we see or seem" is not "a dream within a
Lover they fall in love, and her memory lives on
in his nightly dreams, where he lies down dream."
at her side in her tomb by the sea.

Night is an eidolon, or specter, who

reigns over the dark, haunted realm of
Sonnet—To Science
dreams in the poem "Dream-​Land." He is
the king who forbids the traveler In one of Edgar Allan Poe's early poems, "Sonnet—To Science,"
Night
(dreamer) to gaze openly on Dream- the speaker is a poet. He mourns the advance of science,
Land's mysteries—a privilege granted
which studies the world and strips it of its beauty and illusions.
only to the dead whose memories walk in
shadow here. What is left are dull realities—knowledge but no wisdom.
Nothing remains for the poet, not even his ability to dream.
Science is personified in "Sonnet—To
Science" as the daughter of Old Time.
Science Science embodies dull realities and feeds
on the poet's heart like a vulture, robbing
Dream-Land
life of its mysteries and dreams.
"Dream-Land" tells the tale of a traveler to a distant land
The seraphs of Heaven in the poem outside of time and space. His journey begins in darkness,
"Annabel Lee" are angels who envy the along a little-known, lonely road. He finds himself in a fantastic,
Seraphs of
love shared by the speaker and the nightmarish landscape with forever-toppling mountains,
Heaven
beautiful Annabel Lee. They send a wind
by night, chilling and killing the maiden. shoreless seas, dead lakes, and gray woods. Its inhabitants are
memories of the dead whom the traveler has known in life.

In the poem "Dream-​Land," the speaker is Despite the strangeness and horror of this place, the traveler
the traveler and central figure, a visitor in senses something here is soothing to these spirits. However,
Traveler the realm of dreams. He senses there are as a visitor, he is unable to see what it is. It is perhaps an
awesome mysteries here, but he, a living
awesome mystery reserved for those who have passed over
soul, may not glimpse them.
into death and memory. In the end, the traveler journeys back
along the lonely road, returning home from that distant place
outside of space and time.

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Plot Summary 7

The Bells
"The Bells" presents four scenarios in four stanzas of
increasing length. Bells ring out in each stanza, their distinct
sound marking a milestone in the cycle of human of life. The
bells of youth are silver and their tone merry as they ring out in
"the icy air of night." Golden wedding bells sound in "the balmy
air of night" to mark young adulthood and hopes for future
happiness. Then, "in the startled ear of night," brass alarm bells
shriek out a warning. They warn the fire of "desperate desire"
and "resolute endeavor" threaten to consume everything and
leave behind only despair. The last bells to toll are solemn iron
bells rung "in the silence of the night" and heralding, or calling
for, death.

Annabel Lee
The death of Poe's wife at age 24, it has been speculated, was
the inspiration for the poem "Annabel Lee." In the fairytale
setting of "a kingdom by the sea," the speaker and the
beautiful maiden, Annabel Lee, share a great love. Their love is
so great as to be envied by the angels. Though these "seraphs
of Heaven" send a chilling wind that kills the maiden, death
cannot break the bonds of love. The lovers' souls cannot be
severed from each other. The night brings the speaker dreams
in which he lies down next to his beloved bride "in her tomb by
the sounding sea."

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Poem Summaries 8

tangible world is in question, as is the stability and reliability of

c Poem Summaries the emotional world. Both seem fleeting and illusory. This
perception is evoked by the poem's imagery. Hope has flown
This study guide examines five of Edgar Allan Poe's highly away. Sand slips through the speaker's fingers like the grains
regarded lyric poems. Their penning and publication spans in an hourglass. Life is a dream nested within a dream—an
Poe's writing life. "Sonnet—To Science" appeared in his second illusion conjured within an illusion of life.
published volume of poetry, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor
The general tone of the poem is sadness, uncertainty, and
Poems. "Annabel Lee" and "The Bells" were published after his
finally despair. In the first stanza, the speaker bids someone
death. Lyric poems are relatively short and tend to be more
farewell with a kiss. Whether this parting takes place in life or
descriptive than narrative, with musicality in their rhythm and
in death is open to interpretation. Either way, the speaker
language.
acknowledges the life he has led to this point has been a
dream. He has now woken to the reality that the world is

A Dream within a Dream different than he believed it to be and is ready to acknowledge

that fact.

Lost and forlorn, he ponders what has happened to hope

Summary within the dream. Though the object of hope is not defined,
opening the dream to the reader, the poem's theme is
"A Dream within a Dream" was first published on March 31, universal. Hope, as is its nature, has come and gone, has "flown
1849, in The Flag of Our Union, a popular Boston periodical away." How this happened does not matter. It, like life, is but a
circulated weekly on Saturdays. This is a 24-line lyric poem dream. In the final couplet, the speaker appears to fully
divided into two stanzas. The first stanza consists of four pairs surrender to the idea that life, indeed, is a dream. Letting go of
of rhyming lines (couplets) and a group of three rhyming lines hope, love, and the past is safer than struggling with questions.
(a triplet). The second comprises five couplets and a triplet. An Their loss does not really matter if they are only part of the
earlier version of the poem titled "Imitation" was published in dream—an illusion within a larger illusion.
1827 in Poe's first book of verse, Tamerlane and Other Poems.
However, the second stanza calls the first into question. The
In the first stanza, the poem addresses an unnamed person speaker now stands on a "surf-tormented shore." The sea's
upon whom the speaker has bestowed a kiss. In parting with turbulence reflects the speaker's emotional state of mind. He
this nameless loved one, he confesses his days have slipped stands before a powerful, impersonal force representing the
away like a dream. All hope of retrieving love or realizing frightening unknown of time and eternity. To enter that infinite
purpose is gone, though what does it matter? Life is "a dream ocean is to die. Thus, the shore is the borderland between life
within a dream." and Death. As the speaker stands there, waves wash at his
feet, signifying the endlessness of change. The grains of sand
The second stanza finds the speaker standing on an ocean
he grasps sift through his fingers like time's passing. They are
shore, weeping. In one hand, he clasps "grains of golden sand"
his days, years, life, and memories. Now, he is
that relentlessly slip through his fingers. He piteously asks God
uncertain—perhaps desperately hopeful he was wrong.
if it is possible to hold on to even one grain. Or is everything
Perhaps all "we see or seem" is not "a dream within a dream."
"we see or seem" an illusion within a larger illusion—"a dream
within a dream"? Between the first stanza and the second, there is a clear shift
in the speaker's certainty that life is only a dream. In the first,
he states this with conviction. In the second, he questions the
Analysis idea and in despair puts it to God, and to the reader. This
suggests first that the dream within a dream is divine in nature.
The focus of the poem is stated in its title. An examination of It is God's dream, and within it exist the dreams of humankind.
his life—external and internal—leads the speaker to doubt the Alternatively, the question remains open: Who is the original
reality of it. The perceived solidity and fixed nature of the dreamer? In whose dream are we caught? And what part do

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Poem Summaries 9

we play? Are we dreamers ourselves or something conjured advancements in science and its effect on modern culture.
within the dream? Poe does not answer these questions but
leaves them to the reader to ponder. By the time "Sonnet—To Science" first appeared in print in
1827, the Industrial Revolution (c. 1760–1840) was well
The main themes at play in the poem are hope and despair, underway in America. It had brought about profound changes
dreams versus reality, and the uncertainty and transience of in how and where people lived, worked, ate, dressed, were
life. The reality of the poem, however, is emphasized most educated, and raised a family. Cities grew rapidly as a steady
strongly in the poem's structure. Written in two stanzas of 11 flow of people moved in from the country in search of factory
and 13 lines, the poem uses the odd number of lines to refuse work and a better life. In manufacturing, machines were
the comfort of a simple couplet or quatrain structure to its replacing manual labor, and advances in technology were
reader, although it maintains a regular rhyme scheme in increasing labor efficiency and productivity. But these dramatic
couplets or triplets. Likewise, the certainty of the first stanza social, economic, and technological advances came with a
contrasts with the desperation of the second. Which reflects price. For example, the quality of life for urban workers
the speaker's actual state of mind? The reader is left uncertain, declined. The pace of their lives was now dictated by the clock
as, perhaps, is the speaker. and factory whistle. Time was scarce for establishing
community ties and enjoying the fellowship village life had
provided.
Sonnet—To Science These revolutionary changes were accompanied by the rise of
modern science. Science became an ally in solving some of
industry's problems. Industrial laboratories were established,
Summary and the professional scientist stepped into the limelight. More
relevant to Poe's sonnet, scientific discoveries were unmasking
Poe's first collection of poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems
nature's mysteries at a record pace. In the arts Romanticism
(1827), went largely unnoticed. It contained an untitled version
was rebelling against this trend.
of "Sonnet—To Science." A few years later, in Al Aaraaf,
Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (1829), the sonnet served as an Writers like Poe were sometimes employed to communicate
introduction to the poem "Al Aaraaf." The poem follows the scientific advancements to the public in ways that informed
Shakespearean or Elizabethan sonnet structure. It has 14 lines and engaged their attention. This often took the form of
and employs the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG—three compelling stories. Yet in this early sonnet, Poe questions the
four-line groups, or quatrains, and a final couplet. benefits of science in light of their effect on the soul of the
poet.
Poe's sonnet is a line of inquiry in which the speaker questions
the effects of Science on the poet and his poetic vision of the The sonnet's beginning interjection "Science!" and its opening
world. The "Old Time" ancient art of Science peers closely at line personify Science as "a true daughter of Old Time." This
everything, leaving nothing unexamined and revealing "dull makes clear Science deserves respect as a time-honored
realities." By thus altering human perception of reality, Science intellectual pursuit. However, the next three lines of the first
preys like a vulture on the poet's heart. The imagination can no quatrain accuse Science, with its "peering eyes," of reducing
longer boldly soar "with an undaunted wing." Science casts out everything to the "dull realities" of their component parts. In
the mythical gods and spirits of the natural world, robbing the other words, the scientific method of investigation lays bare
world of beauty and mysteries and depriving the dreamer of his the bones of nature and changes how people see the world.
dreams. The effect on the poet is likened to a vulture—a bird of
prey—feeding on his heart. In line 3, the poet asks his first
question of Science: "Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's
Analysis heart?"

Edgar Allan Poe stands as a major contributor to the The second quatrain begins to answer this query. The
development of the science fiction and detective story genres. questions posed to Science in the first line of this quatrain are
Nevertheless, in this sonnet he expresses ambivalence about rhetorical, intended to make a point: "How should he [the poet]

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Poem Summaries 10

love thee? or how deem thee wise?" The unspoken answer is obsolete—as outdated as the imagined beings that have been
"He cannot." Science offers the poet nothing to love. Nor does dragged, driven, and torn from their ancient dwelling places.
it offer wisdom.
Traditionally, Shakespearean sonnets end the thought and the
The poet's heart (from the first quatrain) represents the sentence at the third quatrain and start fresh with the final
wellspring of imagination from which he draws visions of couplet, which is often used to comment ironically on the
beauty, truth, and wisdom. These are the essence of his previous three quatrains, sometimes calling the entire meaning
poetry. Science is incapable of revealing these qualities and, in of the poem into question. However, Poe joins the couplet with
fact, removes them. It is the sharp-eyed vulture, dull-winged the final quatrain, giving the poem a concluding sestet (six-line
and Earth-bound, that picks apart all it sees. In contrast, the set) in syntax, or sentence structure, if not in rhyme. The effect
poet is a winged creature fearlessly soaring among the stars, is jarring and dissonant, thus resonating in the poem's
seeking treasures. His flights of imagination are bold, structure and sound the lack of harmony Poe finds distressing
unfettered, and free to wander. Science looks at the stars to in the discipline of science—a discipline that may be technically
study them. The poet looks to the stars for their "jeweled" correct, but one that lacks the beauty, grace, and elegance of
beauty and the wisdom he may discover there. poetry.

The poet's rhetorical questions continue in the third quatrain,

this time focusing on the victims of scientific investigation. He
asks, "Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?" Diana is a
Dream-Land
Roman goddess associated with woodlands, nature, and more
significantly, the moon. Her "car," or chariot, is the moon, which
she rides across the night sky. Science has "dragged Diana
Summary
from her car," robbing the moon of its mythical attributes and
"Dream-Land" (titled "Dreamland" in some reprints) was the
showing it to be nothing more than a rocky, lifeless satellite
only poem Poe wrote and published in 1844. This lyric poem
circling Earth. Similarly, Science has "driven the Hamadryad
was composed in rhyming couplets: AA BB CC and so on. That
from the wood." The Hamadryad is woodland nymph who is the
is, the last words or syllables of lines 1 and 2 rhyme, as do
spirit of a particular tree. When the tree dies, the Hamadryad
those of lines 3 and 4, lines 5 and 6, and so on.
dies. Science has purged this notion from the modern
understanding of trees. Such mythological beings must find a
The poem consists of five stanzas varying in length. In the first,
home elsewhere, "in some happier star." There is brutality in
the narrator—a traveler—describes himself as newly arrived
the manner in which Science has removed the goddess and
from some mysterious place, unimaginably far away. His
the nymph. Diana has been "dragged" and the Hamadryad
journey from this "ultimate dim Thule" has followed a murky,
"driven." They are now refugees seeking shelter.
lonely route "haunted by ill angels" and ruled by a specter
named "Night." Yet for all its strangeness, it was a sublime
The final line of this quatrain carries on into the ending couplet.
place in which Space and Time did not exist.
It initiates a final rhetorical question. Accusing Science of an
assault on other fantastical beings as well as on the poet
In the second stanza, the traveler describes the "wild weird"
himself, the imagery is more intensely violent. The Naiad—a
realm he has left. It is a land without boundaries, where vales
water nymph—has been "torn" from her flood, as has the "Elfin
(valleys) are bottomless and floods boundless. It is a place of
from the green grass." With the elimination of these creatures,
contradictions and chaos, where mountains forever topple,
the summer dream has been torn from the poet.
seas have no shore, and the skies burn. The lakes are lonely
places; their still, chilly waters are carpeted with dying white
At this point, the pronoun "me" replaces the pronoun "he" used
lilies that look like snow.
previously to represent all poets. The speaker is no longer an
objective observer but a presence in his own poem. He himself
In the third stanza, the traveler tells about the inhabitants of
feels preyed upon; his dreams troubled by Science. If indeed
these lands. Toads and newts live by lonely lakes, mountains,
Science has replaced wonder with dull reality, what is left for
murmuring rivers, gray woods, and swamps. Ghouls dwell near
the poet to dream about? Science may well have rendered him
the tarns and pools. And in the most unholy, most melancholy

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Poem Summaries 11

spots, the traveler encounters apparitions of the dead—"the The road or corridor leads to "an ultimate dim Thule." Thule is
Sheeted Memories of the Past." another term drawn from the ancient Greeks. Also called
Ultima Thule, it referred to the most northerly place where
The impressions the landscape makes on the traveler are people might live on earth. Various locations have been
recounted in the fourth stanza. For all its dark strangeness and referred to as Thule in geography and literature. Naturally, a
contradictions, it is a place of peace for those with an aching geographic Thule would be cold, dark, and mysterious and
heart; the glorious stuff of legends—"an Eldorado"—for the filled with hazards. In "Dream-Land" the name designates a
melancholy spirit. But the traveler is a visitor who may not view distant, mysterious, or mythical place beyond the known world.
this place except in sleep. It cannot be viewed with "the weak This is the realm of dreams. The speaker portrays the "clime"
human eye unclosed." When that "fring'd lid" is opened and the (a region characterized by its climate) as wild and weird. It is
traveler awakes, the land remains in his dreams and is seen also "sublime," meaning it promotes the strongest emotions in
only through the "darkened glasses" of waking memory. the observer, such as awe or terror. Furthermore, it is a place
beyond the boundaries of space and time. In other words, in
The fifth stanza echoes the first, describing the traveler's
dreaming, the traveler has left the physical world, which is
wandering journey from "the ultimate dim Thule" of his account.
constrained by the natural laws of space and time.
He is now home.

In this first stanza, Poe places the words night, space, and time
in all capital letters, underscoring their importance and linking
Analysis them together. Night, as a symbol, is associated with death as
well as dreams. The afterlife is also a realm of existence not
This is one of Edgar Allan Poe's more mysterious and
bound by space and time. The ancient Greeks, upon whose
tantalizing poems. It invites a range of interpretations.
mythology Poe draws heavily, envisioned Night as a place,
literally that place under the flat earth where Apollo's chariot
As the title suggests, the poem describes a journey through
ran after it raced across the sky each day. Thus, for them,
the land of dreams. Here, the traveler encounters weird,
night was both a space and a time, as well as the underworld.
nightmarish geography, tarn-dwelling Ghouls, and "sheeted
Poe draws upon this imagery to create his own mythological,
Memories of the Past." The overall tone is dark, cold, and sad.
dreamlike underworld.
Repetition of words and phrases like "lonely" and "lone and
dead" evoke a feeling of desolation.
In the second stanza, the speaker paints a picture of Dream-
Land's topography. Though the geography appears no less
The poem opens with the speaker/traveler explaining he has
real to the traveler than that of the physical world, it is more
just returned from this fantastic realm, suggesting an
bizarre and unpredictable, defying nature's laws. The
awakening. Though it is not yet clear to what "lands" he has
movement of the landscape is unexpected and unsettling as
returned "but newly," certainly he has come a long way. His
mountains continuously topple into seas surging and reaching
journey back has been along a featureless road he vaguely
toward the sky, which burns. The lack of boundaries is
describes a "obscure and lonely." The angels who haunt the
disturbing. Features of the landscape are bottomless,
road are "ill"—a description suggesting they are unwholesome
boundless, and "endlessly outspread." Rain, like constant tears,
or malevolent and add a nightmarish quality to the road. The
obscures shapes within darkness housed in chasms, caves,
route is blanketed in darkness, which is personified as "an
and woods towering like Titans, the gods of the ancient world.
Eidolon, named NIGHT." Eidolon is a term from Greek
mythology denoting an apparition or phantom who takes on a
The denizens of Dream-Land described in Stanza 3 are just as
recognizable human shape. This personification adds a sinister
unsettling as the terrain. Toads and newts inhabit the gray
sense of awareness to Dream-Land's darkness. It suggests the
woods and swamp. Ghouls—undead or subhuman creatures
darkness is sentient and watchful; conscious of the traveler's
who plunder graves and feed on corpses—dwell in unholy
presence. As the hours of night are associated with sleep, the
places. But it is the white-robed forms of the dead that leave
murky road the speaker travels may be seen as the corridor
the traveler horrorstruck. They are "sheeted Memories" of
between realms of dreams and wakefulness, overseen by the
friends he has "given, in agony, to Earth," or buried. The
entity Night. But there is more to this as the stanza continues.
traveler is shocked to note that they are here, alongside the

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Poem Summaries 12

horrors he has described, but his surprise gives way to another which he cannot see. Here the theme of death enters. Dream-
realization in the next stanza. Land may well be a place of transition; a corridor between life
and death. It certainly is a place where the dead, at least in
A shift in the poem occurs in Stanza 4. "Wild and weird" as this memory, also wander.
dream realm is, the traveler describes it as "a peaceful,
soothing region" and "an Eldorado." Eldorado (sometimes
spelled El Dorado) is a legendary place of immense riches. El
Dorado means "the gilded one." According to a legend widely
The Bells
believed by Europeans in the 16th and 17th centuries, El
Dorado was a tribal chieftain living in the Andes mountains
(present-day Colombia). Gold was so plentiful "the gilded one"
Summary
covered himself with gold dust: hence the name. It was the
Composed in the last year of Edgar Allan Poe's life, "The Bells"
tribal custom to throw gold and jewels into a sacred lake in
was the second of his poems published posthumously. It
honor of the gods who lived there. Over time the chieftain's
appeared in the November 1849 issue of Sartain's Union
sobriquet "El Dorado" became synonymous with a vanished
Magazine, a Philadelphia-based periodical that featured the
realm of unimaginable wealth and grandeur.
works of many literary talents. In 1875 "The Bells" made its way
In the poem the allusion to Eldorado harkens back to the into book form with the release of The Works of Edgar Allan
traveler's earlier description of Dream-Land as "sublime." Poe, Volume III, edited by John H. Ingram.
There is nothing in the traveler's description of it to suggest
The poem is arranged in four stanzas of increasing length and
the glittering grandeur of Eldorado or any other awesome
totaling 113 lines. It's a melodic work showcasing carefully
mystery. Yet the inhabitants find it a "soothing region" and the
chosen words suggesting or mimicking the many sounds of
traveler senses something awesome lurks just out of sight. It
bells, a literary device called onomatopoeia. The rhythm and
remains just out of reach because he is only a visitor, not an
melody of the piece is further heightened by repetition of
inhabitant. In this way Dream-Land may be taken as a
words (e.g., "time, time, time") and generous use of alliteration
metaphor for death, which truly is out of time and space. It is a
(e.g., "Runic rhyme"). This work is meant to be read aloud.
state of being in which woes no longer bring pain—an Eldorado
for dead souls. Unlike the traveler the shrouded figures he
With the changing chimes of the bells, the four stanzas mark
encounters will never return to the land of the living. Their
the cycle of life from youth through young adulthood and
journey will continue toward that sublime place he, the visitor,
middle years, ending with death.
can only glimpse as if "through darkened glasses."
In the first and shortest stanza (14 lines), silver sleigh bells
The final stanza echoes the first, but now we join the traveler in
tinkle merrily "in the icy air of night," keeping time in a
returning from "this ultimate dim Thule" just described. He is
mysterious "Runic rhyme." Their jingling melody foretells "a
awake and back in the material world, as are we. The last two
world of merriment."
lines from Stanza 1 are missing, giving this closing stanza a
flattened, anti-climactic tone. It is as if the traveler is The second stanza (21 lines) marks a new milestone in life:
disappointed to have returned. The missing lines also indicate young adulthood and marriage. The mellow chime of golden
our return to a bounded existence, thereby creating the unified bells sounds "through the balmy air of night." Their ringing
effect Poe prizes so highly in a lyric. captures this moment's delight and its promise of future
happiness.
"Dream-Land" is threaded with several themes. The most
obvious is that of dreams versus reality. Poe deliberately blurs Stanza 3 (34 lines) signals an abrupt change in the character
the line between the two. Dream-Land has recognizable and quality of the bells. These are brass alarm bells clamoring
features such as roads, mountains, and lakes, but they are all out a warning "in the startled ear of night." A fire is raging, and
given a bizarre twist and an air of ambiguity as to actual form, the bells shriek out of tune in terror, but the "deaf and frantic
shape, and color. Their properties defy natural law. fire" has no mercy. The ebb and flow of danger is echoed by
Furthermore, the traveler senses that Dream-Land holds more, the rise and fall of rage voiced by the bells.

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Poem Summaries 13

In the final stanza (44 lines), iron bells toll solemnly "in the Similarly, Poe uses vowel sounds to reinforce the mood of
silence of the night." They are melancholy and funereal in tone. each stanza. The merriment of the silver bells in Stanza 1 is
High in the church steeple, the bells are ghouls savoring the echoed in the i's of words such as "tinkle," "crystalline,"
sorrow accompanying death. The king of the ghouls tolls in a "tintinnabulation," and "jingling." This contrasts sharply with the
paean, or song of triumph, dancing and yelling as the throbbing scream-like a's of Stanza 3—"jangling," "wrangling," "clamor,"
and sobbing, moaning and groaning bells keep time in a "happy "clangor"—and the deep, dark o's of Stanza 4—"tolling," "rolls,"
Runic rhyme." "moaning," "groaning."

The bells and the quality of their tone hold multiple meanings:
Analysis seasons, phases of life, and the gamut of human emotions
from hope to despair. The silver bells are merry sleigh bells
The subject of bells was first suggested to Poe by Marie suggesting a winter holiday or Christmas scene. They ring out
Louise Shew. Mrs. Shew was nurse to Poe's wife during the in the crisp night air. Traditionally, this time of year is a season
last year or so of Virginia's life. She then helped Poe through of hope, a time for fresh beginnings in the coming new year.
his ensuing bouts of grief and illness. In the spring of 1848, Poe These bells also denote the days of youth, when the future
came to visit Mrs. Shew in her home, which was situated near a looks bright. Nevertheless, they keep time "in a sort of Runic
church. He hoped in her company to somehow find inspiration rhyme." A Rune is a mark or letter presumed to have a secret,
for a poem. Yet, as he sat by a window in the night, the sound mysterious meaning. Thus, the light tone of these silver bells is
of church bells was an annoyance to him. His complaints mingled with something ominous.
against them inspired Mrs. Shew to pen a few descriptive
The golden wedding bells ring out joyously. Swinging and
words about little silver bells. Poe finished the line. This
ringing, they sound out in the temperate air of night. These
successful collaboration led to another. Working in
bells suggest the mellowing and maturing of youth into young
cooperation with Mrs. Shew, Poe drafted a rough version of
adulthood; a time when the future holds the promise of
"The Bells." This version is known as the "Shew" manuscript.
harmony and happiness. The turtle-dove, a symbol of love and
Poe continued to develop the poem until shortly before his
faithfulness, "gloats on the moon." Gloat in this context means
death on October 7, 1849. The piece was published 11 days
boast or crow, with the moon representing all the high
later.
expectations of achievement and happiness held by the
When read aloud, as intended, the most striking feature about newlyweds. Their love is sure of itself and sure of the future.
"The Bells" is the musicality of its language. The poem is rich This foreshadows the moon's reappearance in Stanza 3.
with onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia is the formation of words
In the third stanza, the tone and mood shift abruptly. Brazen
from sounds imitating or suggesting the thing being
(brass) alarm bells shriek, scream, clang, clash, and roar "in the
referenced. Examples include the high, light jingling and tinkling
startled ear of night." They are clamorous, desperate, and
of the silver bells or the raucous clang and clash of the brass
angry. They suggest the summer season of heat and fire and
alarm bells. Repetition further develops the poem's melodic
the middle years of life when aspirations burn brightly, often
quality. In the "tinkle, tinkle, tinkle" of the bells, the reader can
frantically, as they reach for the moon. In life, as the poet sees
almost hear their rhythmic ringing. Repetition of the word "bell"
it, these are the years of fear and despair, especially as hopes
evokes the sight and sound of tolling bells swinging
are threatened and failure looms. The all-consuming fire of
rhythmically to and fro.
"desperate desire" and "resolute endeavor" is merciless. Those
Repeated consonant sounds, or alliteration, paired with precise moon-struck dreams of youth will be achieved now, if ever. The
word choices, enhance the mood of each stanza. For example, bells clang out their horror into "the bosom of the palpitating
"merriment" and "melody" in line 3 of the first stanza have a air"—a metaphor for the heart pounding with anxiety in the
cheerful connotation supporting the generally optimistic mood human chest.
of this stanza. In contrast, "melancholy menace" describes the
The bells of the final stanza are iron. They toll somberly,
bells in Stanza 4. Here, alliteration and word choice support the
groaning, throbbing, moaning, and sobbing "in the silence of
gloomy mood that has taken over.
the night." Their tolling is a figurative tombstone rolled onto the

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Poem Summaries 14

human heart. Like the silver bells in the first stanza, the bells nor by angels in Heaven or demons deep in the sea. Soul
keep time "in a sort of Runic rhyme." Now, they are being rung cannot be severed from soul. In the moon and stars, the
by the king of the ghouls, who gleefully knells out a paean, or speaker finds reminders of the beautiful Annabel Lee. And by
song of triumph. Death has triumphed over life. Thus, the night, in his dreams, he lays down at her side, "in her tomb by
secret of the Runic rhyme is revealed: At the end of life waits the sounding sea."
inevitable death. The grimness of these notions likely reflected
Poe's own despondency at this stage of his life.
Analysis
It is significant each bell rings out at night and the quality of
each night changes. The ever-present darkness suggests The story of "Annabel Lee" is set down in six stanzas: two
death is ever-present in life. The change in night's attributes sextets (six lines), an octet (eight lines), another sextet, a
reflects the passage of time and changing conditions of life as septet (seven lines), and a final octet. In all, there are 41 lines.
it progresses through each stage.
The namesake of the poem embodies what Poe believed to be
In structure, the four stanzas have notable similarities. The first "the most poetical topic in all the world"—namely, the untimely
three and the final three lines of each stanza follow the same death of a beautiful woman. Poe believed death to be the topic
pattern. Like bookends, the lines neatly set apart each stage of universally considered most melancholy. Coupled with beauty,
life while simultaneously linking them together to represent it he felt it to be the most poetical. This assertion is found in his
as a whole. essay "The Philosophy of Composition" (April 1846). Poe
further states it is "beyond doubt that the lips best suited for
such topic are those of a bereaved lover." Thus the speaker of
Annabel Lee the poem elevates its main character to a universal symbol of
beauty and ideal love forever preserved in death. From this
perspective, Poe is cast in the role of the speaker consumed
Summary by grief and epitomizes the "bereaved lover."

The poem has the qualities of a ballad woven into its setting,
The last complete poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, "Annabel
rhyme and rhythm, and language. Ballads are highly rhythmical,
Lee" was published on October 9, 1849, two days after his
alliterative, repetitive folk songs passed down orally from
death. This lyric poem is arranged in six stanzas of varying
generation to generation, often dealing with themes of love
lengths with a rhyme pattern that differs slightly from stanza to
and death, and sometimes containing macabre elements. The
stanza. Line lengths follow a general long/short pattern, with
poem begins "It was many and many a year ago," suggesting it
short lines reliably ending in the rhyming words sea, Lee, me, or
has a long lineage. The location is "a kingdom by the sea,"
we. The flow of the lines is rhythmic, suggesting within each
suggestive of England or Ireland, from where many of
stanza the surge and ebb of the sea upon the shore.
America's ballads draw inspiration. Annabel Lee is described
The poem was composed after the tragic death of Poe's as a beautiful young "maiden." This chivalric term casts her as
beloved young wife, Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe, in 1847. Poe was an inhabitant of times gone by. Later, her "highborn kinsmen"
inconsolable. In the poem, a young man, whom many have (blood relatives) come to take her away, revealing she is of
supposed to be the poet himself, laments the loss of his young noble birth.
love. Long ago, in a kingdom by the sea, the speaker and a
Love, childlike in its innocence, is at the core of the romance
young maiden, Annabel Lee, lived a life of love. Their love was
between Annabel Lee and the speaker. It is a love that
so blissful even the "winged seraphs of Heaven," or angels,
transcends death. And as revealed in Stanza 4, this love-and-
were envious. The angels were, in fact, so envious they sent a
death tragedy is legendary among the men of the kingdom.
chill wind that sickened and killed the "beautiful Annabel Lee."
These elements, taken as a whole, create a romantic "once
Her "highborn kinsmen" then took away her body and placed it
upon a time" tale. It is a tale of a noble young maiden who
in a sepulcher, or burial chamber, by the sea.
leaves her kingdom for the pure love of a young man. And
Yet the ties of young love cannot be broken by untimely death, when she sadly dies, the bond of their love cannot be broken.

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Quotes 15

The poem reads like a ballad, with a song-like quality to the which brings him visions and reminders of his love. In the
cadence. Spoken aloud, there is a rocking, hypnotic rhythm to darkness, the boundaries between dreams, memories, and
the lines within each stanza, suggesting the steady rush and reality blur. With a final surge of passion, the speaker tells of
retreat of waves on the seashore of the kingdom. Within each nightly sojourns to Annabel Lee's tomb. Love and yearning
stanza, the rhyming scheme varies. However, repetition of the draw him to the sepulcher. The speaker says in the first line of
rhyming words sea, Lee, me, and we is a unifying thread Stanza 6 that these are dreams. Still, there is a feeling of
providing cohesion among the stanzas. This thread also finality in the last two lines of the poem, like the closing of the
underscores the spiritual bond between the speaker and door to her tomb.
Annabel Lee. The phrases "this kingdom by the sea" and "my
Annabel Lee" or "my beautiful Annabel Lee" repeat throughout Major themes in "Annabel Lee" include death, the uncertainty

poem. These mournful refrains are reminders of the enchanted and transience of life, and eternal love. The final vision is one of

past and the speaker's obsession with it. victory. Although Annabel Lee is dead, the speaker is secure in
her love. According to Poe, "no man can consider himself
To intensify the rhythm of the poem, Poe uses internal rhyme entitled to complain of Fate while, in his adversity, he still
and repetition of words, word patterns, and consonant sounds. retains the unwavering love of woman." The speaker of the
For example, Stanza 4 contains the notable internal rhyme poem has survived death and retained that love.
"Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee." In Stanza 2, the word love
is repeated for effect: "But we loved with a love that was more
than love." The line "my darling—my darling—my life and my
g Quotes
bride" is an example of a repeated word pattern. Poe also uses
alliteration—the repetition of a consonant sound—to emphasize
both atmosphere and meaning. In Stanza 4, for example, the "You are not wrong, who deem /
sound of the h's in the first line foreshadow the wind that will
kill Annabel Lee: "The angels, not half so happy in Heaven." That my days have been a dream."
Poe's melodious use of language heightens the romanticism in
— Narrator, A Dream within a Dream
"Annabel Lee" and creates a hypnotic rhythm rising and falling
with the passion of the speaker. Within each stanza, his
emotions surge and then recede like waves washing the shore. With these lines, the speaker establishes the premise of the
In the final two lines of Stanza 6, his passion ebbs with "In her poem "A Dream Within a Dream." The speaker says everything
sepulchre there by the sea" and fades into melancholy with "In seemingly real in his life—everything comprising his day-to-day
her tomb by the sounding sea." Again, alliteration among the s's existence—was just an illusion, a dream. And he seems
both intensifies the meaning and hints at the rushing sound of resigned to that fact.
the sea.

There are two mood shifts in the poem. The first occurs in "Is all that we see or seem / But a
Stanza 3, when death darkens the idyllic vision of "a love that
was more than love." Death is swift and unexpected. Annabel dream within a dream?"
Lee is quickly born away, leaving the speaker alone. The scene
turns cold with the chilling wind. The image of the dead maiden — Narrator, A Dream within a Dream
shut up in a sepulcher is dark and claustrophobic. This change
is common to macabre ballads.
These final lines of the poem "A Dream Within a Dream"
The mood shifts again in Stanza 5. With a touch of triumph, the contradict the resignation expressed by the speaker in the first
speaker proclaims their love has survived and neither angel nor stanza. Now he woefully asks if everything seemingly real is an
demon can break its bond. The souls of the lovers are forever illusion: a dream within a larger dream.
inseparable. This mood carries over into the final stanza, which
lends Poe's ballad a unique quality. The speaker exalts at night,

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Quotes 16

"Science! true daughter of Old newly / From an ultimate dim

Time thou art!" Thule."

— Narrator, Sonnet—To Science — Traveler, Dream-Land

In this first line of "Sonnet—To Science," the poet The speaker sets the stage for his description of "Dream-
acknowledges that science is as old as time and has its place Land" by likening it to Thule, a realm located in the chilly, dark
and purpose. It is the "true" or factual and verifiable product of northernmost areas of the world. The speaker's Thule is ruled
the ages and of human experience. by a specter named Night and can only be reached by a lonely,
haunted route. The speaker is newly returned from his travels
there.
"Why preyest thou thus upon the
poet's heart, / Vulture, whose "There the traveller meets, aghast,
wings are dull realities?" / Sheeted Memories of the Past."
— Narrator, Sonnet—To Science
— Traveler, Dream-Land

This is the core question the poet asks of Science in

In "Dream-Land," the traveler encounters shrouded figures
"Sonnet—To Science." He mourns the deadening effect of the
whom he recognizes as shades of people he has known but
"dull realities" of Science on the imagination. He likens Science
who are now dead. It seems dreams, like death, are places
to a bird of prey, shrouding dying and dead things with its
where memories of loved ones who have passed dwell and
wings in order to feed on them. What is dying is the poet's
may be met again.
heart, which may be interpreted as his soul, essential being, or
humanity.

"For the spirit that walks in

"Hast thou not torn ... from me / shadow / 'T is—oh, 't is an
The summer dream beneath the Eldorado!"
tamarind tree?"
— Traveler, Dream-Land

— Narrator, Sonnet—To Science

The Traveler senses the inhabitants of "Dream-Land"
experience it quite differently from the visitor. For them, it is
In the final lines of "Sonnet—To Science," the poet sums up the
akin to legendary Eldorado, a fabulous lost city of gold. Dream-
devastating effect Science has had on him. It has robbed him
Land is a realm of awesome mysteries reserved for those who
of the ability to dream or to partake of the wisdom he might
have passed over into death and memory. While we cannot
acquire from dreaming, as symbolized by the tamarind tree,
access these mysteries ourselves, perhaps we can be
which is sometimes associated with things spiritual, ghostly,
comforted by the traveler's assertion that the shadows exist.
and wise.

"Keeping time, time, time, / In a

"I have reached these lands but

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Quotes 17

fear in those who listen. There is sadness and the threat of

sort of Runic rhyme."
finality in their tone.

— Narrator, The Bells

"And this maiden she lived with no

In the first stanza of "The Bells," silver bells ring out merrily and
seem to speak of a promising future. However, in their rhythm
other thought / Than to love and
and rhyme lurks something darker. The Runic nature of their be loved by me."
chiming speaks of something mysterious or hidden and hints
something is "wrong" with what the bells foretell.
— Lover, Annabel Lee

"Through the balmy air of night / The lover speaks of the poem's namesake, Annabel Lee, and
describes their mutual, all-consuming love. The language has
How they ring out their delight!" the quality of a fairytale or ballad. Thus, it places their love in
the past, making clear to the reader the idyll described did not
— Narrator, The Bells last.

Golden wedding bells ring out in the second stanza of "The

Bells." Like the silver bells, they seem to foretell happiness. Yet
"But we loved with a love that was
they ring out at night. Though the air is balmy and the setting more than love— / I and my
benign, their chiming still sounds in darkness—another hint of
things to come. Annabel Lee."

— Lover, Annabel Lee

"In the startled ear of night / How
they scream out their affright!" Describing the transcendent quality of their love, the poet
elevates his relationship with Annabel Lee to a legendary
plane. Repetition of the word "love" and the fairytale/ballad
— Narrator, The Bells
quality of the language enhance this impression.

In the third stanza of "The Bells," brass fire bells clang in the
night, sounding an alarm. They signal an abrupt, calamitous "All the night-tide, I lie down by the
change in the fortunes of those for whom these bells shriek.
side / Of my darling—my
darling—my life and my bride, / ... /
"In the silence of the night, / How
In her tomb by the sounding sea."
we shiver with affright / At the
melancholy menace of their tone!" — Lover, Annabel Lee

— Narrator, The Bells The speaker, haunted by his love and memories of Annabel
Lee, goes to her tomb in his nightly dreams and lies at her side.
His endearments ("my darling," "my life," "my bride") emphasize
The final stanza of "The Bells" features iron bells tolling out a
the continuing depth of his love and his inability to let go of the
death knell. The night is otherwise silent, and the bells strike
past and his Annabel Lee.

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Symbols 18

l Symbols The Sea

Night In Romanticism, the beauty and spirituality of nature were

exalted. However, Dark Romanticism and the influence of
Gothic literature infused nature with darker qualities. While it
could calm and heal, it could also frighten and destroy. Its
Elements of Gothic literature found in Dark Romanticism awesome beauty could be tinged with sadness and death. The
include night as a symbol of death and nothingness. Events sea as a representative of nature is featured prominently in the
tend to happen at night and are often imbued with a poems "A Dream within a Dream" and "Annabel Lee."
nightmarish quality. Night's darkness is the environment for the
supernatural and uncanny. In three poems examined in this In "A Dream within a Dream," the speaker stands on a "surf-
study guide, night assumes these Gothic attributes, adding an tormented shore." The sea pounds the shore, echoing the
air of mystery, disquiet, and outright dread to the work. doubts plaguing the speaker's mind. It is a powerful, impersonal
force and a chaotic presence representing the frightening
The poem "Dream-Land" is set in a realm ruled by an eidolon, unknown of time and eternity. The incoming surf roars and,
or specter, named Night. This personification of night adds a without pity, washes into that unknown the grains of
sinister awareness to Dream-Land's darkness. Night not only sand—days, years, life, and memories—creeping through the
symbolizes the ambient mystery and dread haunting this speaker's fingers.
landscape of dreams, but it also appears sentient, watchful,
and fully conscious of the traveler's presence there. The sea in the poem "Annabel Lee" is a quiet, melancholy
presence. Like the shadowland between life and eternity, it
Night is portrayed as a tool and symbol of death in "Annabel marks the place where the speaker may be reunited each night
Lee." In the darkness, envious angels send a chill wind to kill with his love. However, it also represents a barrier he cannot
the young maiden and rob the young lovers of their happiness. yet cross. Annabel Lee's tomb lies at the edge of the sea—a
Like a temporary stand-in for death, night serves as the only vast unknown that again can be taken to represent time and
time in which the lovers can be reunited. Nevertheless, eternity. She now dwells in that kingdom beyond the shore and
adopting a more Romantic and less Gothic interpretation of beyond the reach of her lover.
this situation, night may be seen as the blessed source of sleep
and dreams. These free the speaker in mind and spirit to rejoin
his beloved until death will reunite their souls for eternity.

The attributes of night as a symbol shift slightly in "The Bells."

Annabel Lee
Each new section describes a change in the quality, tone, and
purpose of the bells. One thing does not change: each time
they ring at night. The night is described as icy (in a brisk, The central figure of the poem "Annabel Lee" epitomizes what,
wintery sense), then balmy, startled, and finally silent. From the to Poe, is "the most poetical topic in all the world." This topic is
merry, musical silver bells of the first stanza to the melancholy, the untimely death of a beautiful and beloved young woman. As
throbbing iron bells with which the poem ends, the darkness of the object of the speaker's undying love, Annabel Lee stands
night accompanies their ringing. At the beginning of the poem, as a symbol of every woman who is loved and deemed
night is a harbinger of inescapable death; a reminder of human beautiful by her lover. In her youthfulness and devotion, she
mortality. In the final stanzas, it is the presence of death. also embodies childlike innocence and purity fit for heaven.
Night's recurring role throughout the poem serves to remind Death has assured she will be forever young in the speaker's
the reader "in the midst of life we are in death" (from the Book imaginings. The passion and power of their shared love
of Common Prayer, 1662). triumphs over the murderous angels and over death.

In "The Poetic Principle," Poe writes of a woman's love, "No

nobler theme ever engaged the pen of poet. It is the soul-

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Themes 19

elevating idea, that no man can consider himself entitled to maiden beloved by the speaker. Haunted by her death and
complain of Fate while, in his adversity, he still retains the clinging to the unbreakable bond of their love, the speaker
unwavering love of woman." While the thought may seem contrives a nightly ritual whereby, in sleep, he may be reunited
morbid to the modern reader, Poe was familiar with death from with her. In either his dreams or in reality, he lies down by her
a young age. In luring the poet-lover to her tomb, Annabel Lee side in her tomb. Love and death are thus entwined, and
demonstrates her "unwavering love," proving to her lover that, dreams—much like the dream state in "Dream-Land"—serve as
either ironically or victoriously, he has no reason to complain of a meeting place for the living and the dead.
Fate.
Death lurks throughout the poem "The Bells." Though the first
two stanzas celebrate youth, marriage, and hope for the future,
the bells ring out in the "air of night," hinting these moments of

m Themes happiness are surrounded by something darker. The "Runic

rhyme" of the silver bells suggests their chiming holds a secret
meaning. In the third stanza, alarm bells shriek out their
warning "in the startled ear of night." Death is closer; the
Death danger more palpable. By the last stanza, death has
unquestionably arrived. The king of the ghoulish iron bells
sounds in a paean, or song of triumph. From the poet's point of

Death and what lies beyond is a recurring theme in much of view, death is ever-present in life, and the march toward these

Poe's poetry. In the essay "The Philosophy of Composition" final bells is unescapable. The presence of death is what

(1846), he asserts of all "melancholy topics," the most makes the sound of the bells so compelling.

melancholy is death. This distinctive hallmark of Gothic

literature as well as Dark Romanticism is an essential element
in three of the selected poems: "Dream-Land," "Annabel Lee,"
and "The Bells." In these poems, death is a catalyst for grief,
The Uncertainty and
horror, loneliness, bittersweet memories of the dead, and fear
in the living. Poe's sense of beauty, as he clarifies in "The
Transience of Life
Poetic Principle" includes "the Human Aspiration for Supernal
Beauty" and takes the form of a spiritual love that elevates one
beyond this plane of existence. Death, even terror, can evoke a The uncertainty and transience of life is a theme linked closely
sense of the sublime. Poe considers the sublime part of to the theme of death. The fortunes of life cannot be depended
beauty's domain because it elevates the reader's soul to a upon and may change without warning, despite all efforts to
state of longing for beauty. the contrary. Nothing is permanent, especially life itself—time
moves on, taking life with it toward inevitable death. Poe's own
In "Dream-Land," the realm of dreams mirrors death. Here, the life embodied this theme in his ever-changing fortunes: the loss
traveler encounters "shrouded forms" of friends given long ago of his mother, foster mother, and wife to tuberculosis and his
"in agony, to the Earth." The "white-robed forms" are memories, own ill health.
but the traveler bears witness to their existence. It is a strange
place, but it exists, and he has seen it. And for those who dwell This theme is a key element in three of the selected poems in
there "'T is a peaceful, soothing region," "an Eldorado!" (an this guide: "A Dream within a Dream," "Annabel Lee," and "The
allusion to a heaven on earth). Bells."

Death is secondary only to love as a dominant theme in the In the second stanza of "A Dream within A Dream," the speaker
poem "Annabel Lee." As a poetical topic, Poe places the stands on the shore of a turbulent sea and grasps grains of
untimely death of a beautiful woman above all others both sand that sift through his fingers and disappear into the surf.
because of the tragedy of such a loss and because of the He laments, "O God! can I not save / One from the pitiless
boundless, transcendental sense of peace created by the wave?" Reminiscent of sand in an hourglass, the grains of sand
survival of her love. In this poem, death comes to a young in his hand are time and life relentlessly slipping away into

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Themes 20

infinity and the eternal, as represented by the sea. The sea is the realm of imagination and dreams preferred by the poet.
dynamic; its movement blustery and unpredictable. The Science is a way of viewing the world that relies on facts and
speaker stands at the edge of the shore—the boundary sensual perception. It offers no wisdom and inspires no flights
between temporal life and eternity—symbolically trying to hold of imagination. The ability to see beauty, fantasies, and other
on to the life in his hands and helpless to stop it from ebbing intangibles belongs to the poet. As the advance of science
away. strips the world of these intangibles and increasingly renders it
a place of "dull realities," the realm of the poet shrinks. The
In "Annabel Lee" death descends unexpectedly on the poem's poet himself is left unable even to dream.
namesake and central figure. The maiden is young, noble, and
beloved, with life and a happy future presumably stretching out "A Dream within a Dream" approaches the theme more directly.
before her. Her death is capricious; a malicious plot hatched by This poem was written two years after the death of Poe's wife,
jealous angels to destroy the love she shares with the speaker. Virginia. In the first stanza, with a kiss, the speaker takes leave
Her tragic death is emblematic of the uncertainty and of a loved one who has died. He then questions the reality of
impermanence of life. his existence, suspecting the past has been a dream. Now
hope is gone, but this hardly matters, because it, too, was a
"The Bells" perhaps best expresses the theme of the dream. In the second stanza, the speaker seems caught up in
transience of life. With each stanza, bells toll out the march of the reality he has denied. He struggles to hold on to what he
time moving toward death. Each kind of bell represents a has, whether it be moments in time or memories. As it all
transition in the ever-changing age, life, and fortunes of the relentlessly slips through his fingers, he cries out to God in
humans for whom it rings. The youthful merriment of the silver desperation. In that pitiable cry is the hope all life is not an
bells matures and mellows with the golden wedding bells. illusion.
These bells suggest childhood and young adulthood, when life
is sublime and the future a happy vision. In time their harmony "Dream-Land" is an exploration of dreams in which the
is drowned out by the out-of-tune clangor of brass alarm bells. speaker, a traveler, leaves the real, physical world and enters a
These suggest the desperate middle years when the fire of fantastic realm of weird geography, ghouls, and "sheeted
human aspiration is all-consuming yet success is uncertain. Memories" of dead friends. The location of this place is "a dim
Eventually, the death knell of iron bells is all that is heard. Their Thule." This reference describes a cold and distant physical
"Runic rhyme" echoes that of the first silver bells, suggesting realm accepted as real in the ancient Greek world—a place
the circle of life is complete. Signifying the uncertainty of life, beyond what was known. The geography of Dream-Land is no
the hope and promise of the first two stanzas is violently set less real to the traveler than the geography of the physical
ablaze in the third. The all-consuming fire of aspiration is world. It is just more imaginative and bizarre. The inhabitants
merciless, deaf, and angry. The bells shriek of danger and he encounters are known to him, though they are dead. In this
uncertainty. A flicker of hope remains but is snuffed out by way, the poet blurs the line between reality and dreams. He
death in the final stanza. The only certainty in life seems to be further suggests dreams may be the path toward a different
death. reality beyond death. It is an awesome mystery perceived by
the inhabitants of Dream-Land but hidden from those just
passing through as they sleep and dream.

Dreams versus Reality The line between reality and dreams is similarly blurred in
"Annabel Lee." The setting for the tale—"many and many a year
ago, / In a kingdom by the sea"—gives it the dreamy quality of a
legend or fairytale. Yet there is no doubt Annabel Lee and her
Poe's writings often reflect the disturbing idea reality is not
death are real within the context of the poem, as are the love
what it seems—it is insubstantial; little more than a dream.
and lingering grief of the speaker. As in "Dream-Land," dreams
What is real and what is a dream are thematic questions dealt
serve as a meeting place for the living and dead. Dreams are
with in several of the selected poems.
the speaker's means of reuniting with his lost love. This is his
In the poem "Sonnet—To Science," Poe explores the conflict nightly reality, which sparks questions about what is real and
between the stark, concrete reality preferred by science and what is a dream, and where the borderline is between the two.

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Themes 21

Eternal Love Hope and Despair

In "The Philosophy of Composition" (1846), Poe asserts "the During the years of his wife's illness, Poe suffered wild swings
death ... of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most between hope and despair. There were times when her health
poetical topic in the world—and equally is it beyond doubt that seemed improved, raising hope for her recovery. Then she
the lips best suited for such topic are those of a bereaved would relapse. Following her death in 1847, in a letter to a
lover." His poem "Annabel Lee" exemplifies this view. It was fellow writer, Poe described the ordeal as "the horrible never-
written two years after the tragic death of his beloved young ending oscillation between hope and despair which I could not
wife, Virginia. Poe never recovered from his profound grief. In longer have endured without the total loss of reason." He
this way, it is supposed, Virginia became his muse for the final explained, "I became insane, with long intervals of horrible
composition of his life. sanity." It is not surprising the theme of hope and despair is
explored in "The Bells," written after Virginia's death. Poe also
In "Annabel Lee" Poe explores the theme of eternal love for a touches on the theme in an earlier work, "A Dream within a
maiden who has died too young, leaving behind her grief- Dream," first composed in 1827 following a storm of personal
stricken lover. Poe uses a variety of poetic devices to show misfortune but refined and published in March 1849, after his
readers the breadth and depth of a love transcending time and wife's passing.
death. These include the following:
In "A Dream within a Dream," the speaker questions the nature
repetition (e.g., phrases such as "a kingdom by the sea" or of the life he has led and of reality itself. He feels it has all been
words such as "love" in "But we loved with a love that was a dream. Within that dream, hope has come and gone; it has
more than love") "flown away." How this has happened does not matter. All that
internal rhyme (e.g., "Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee") is left is the gloomy notion all perceived reality, including hope,
alliteration (e.g., the sibilant s "In her sepulchre there by the is an illusion. What remains is despair.
sea, / In her tomb by the sounding sea")
"The Bells" explores the descent of human emotion from hope
Despite his sorrow, the speaker will not accept death has to despair in the span of a lifetime. In the beginning, the
severed the bonds of love he shares with "the beautiful merriment of jingling bells "in the icy air of night" creates a
Annabel Lee." winter holiday atmosphere suggesting Christmas, which is
traditionally a time of new beginnings and hope. It is also a
The beauty and tenderness in this view of eternal love is
celebration associated with children and happy childhood. The
darkened by the loneliness and torment the speaker suffers
golden wedding bells announce another fresh beginning and
after Annabel Lee's death. He is haunted by memories and
the promise of happiness. The joyful event also signals young
cannot let go of the past. He lives only for the night, when he
adulthood: a coming of age. Then with shrieks and screams,
lies down by her side, if only figuratively, in her tomb by the sea.
brass bells sound an alarm. A "deaf and frantic fire" leaps up to
The reader is right to find something terrible, even frightening,
consume the optimism and happiness of youth. It sends hope
in this description. For Poe and other Romantics this aspect
reeling toward the brink of despair. Even so, the danger "ebbs
was described as the sublime, and debate was ongoing as to
and flows," hinting that feeble hope remains. But in the end, the
whether it was part of the beautiful or its opposite.
tolling of the iron bells announces death. Time has run out for
No one doubts the beauty of a sunset or a rose, but what hope; there is only despair, rolled like a stone across the
should we make of the majesty of a sheer cliff in the Alps, from human heart. Throughout the poem, the bells ring only at night.
whose dizzying heights danger surely ensues? For Coleridge, This presence of darkness at every phase of life foreshadows
Poe, and others, these latter sublime majesties, although dark the emotional descent from hope to despair and suggests it is
and terrible, are as surely beautiful as the former and perhaps an inevitable aspect of life.
more useful, because they remind us of eternity and so teach
us to savor the temporal.

Copyright © 2022 Course Hero, Inc. Downloaded on 11-21-2022 by 100000856607179

Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide Narrative Voice 22

b Narrative Voice
All five poems are written from the perspective of a first-
person speaker. However, only in "Annabel Lee" is the speaker
an active participant in the narrative. His life is entwined with
the death of Annabel Lee, and their story is filtered through a
lingering passion for his beloved. In each of the other four
poems, the speaker explores the topic primarily as a subjective
observer who conveys to the reader the hidden essence and
nature of the subject.

The subjective observer is characteristic of the Romantic

movement. In "A Dream within a Dream," the speaker observes
his life in retrospect, pondering the hopelessness of it and
questioning the reality of its nature. This subjective point of
view permits the reader to see life through the speaker's eyes
and empathize with his emotional response to its enigmas. His
disappointment and sadness become ever-more palpable as
time passes, and the reader is figuratively at his side when he
cries out to God in despair.

In "Sonnet—To Science," Poe once again chooses the

subjective point of view in keeping with the individualism and
self-expression of the Romantic movement. Here it allows Poe
to speak through a poet impacted by the intrusion of science
on the mysteries of the world. The poet expresses resentment
that the unromantic, probing methods science employs are
robbing him of the idealized view of nature that permits him to
dream.

The speaker in "Dream-Land" provides a firsthand account of a

strange realm outside of time and space. Here are mysteries
that cannot be seen with the eye but can only be perceived in
sleep where the imagination is free to roam. More than a
physical description, the speaker seeks to convey the
supernatural essence and nature of this land through his
emotional response to it.

In "The Bells," the observer moves through time with the bells,
hearing their voices and interpreting the story they tell about
the human experience. With an undercurrent of inevitability,
their chiming deepens and darkens as life moves toward death.
Caught up in the ever-changing passions of the bells, the
observer becomes the voice and vehicle for conveying these
emotions to the reader.

All material contained within this document/guide is protected by copyright law of the US and various other
jurisdictions and may not be reproduced or distributed without the express written consent. Contact Course Hero
with respect to reproduction or distribution. This document was downloaded from Coursehero.com on 11-21-2022
by 100000856607179.