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 Pćan of old days.
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36/10
Great words, and a great author. No problems at all. -
edgar poe waS one hella dePressn MAN. BUT i gtta say he knows how da find beauty in one a da formidable an melancholy subjects in tha world.
amen
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I like how he doesn't want to act to mournful...to put on a show like the others...because he knows she's surrounded by better people then those others, now.
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Oh this is one of my favorites! I'm pretty sure it wasn't this one wans't about her...but then again I could be wrong. The lines
"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."
Are just so sad, so depressing.
And then
"Of the dead - dead who lies
All perfum'd there,
With the death upon her eyes,
And the life upon her hair. "
Is the most perfect description of a corpse I've ever read, I love Poe.
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A man who turned jigsaws into pictures.
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Back on Lenore again? Cross referencing the lines
"How shall the ritual, then, be read?- the requiem how be sung" from Lenore with
"How shall the burial rite be read?
The solemn song be sung ?
The requiem for the loveliest dead,
That ever died so young?" here, for example... also note the theme "They loved her for her wealth -
And they hated her for her pride" in both... Not forgetting Lenore in the Raven, of course...
So much beauty in the deep and tragic story. Poe's shown us it many times before, yet somehow it doesn't age... genius.
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Creepy but still GREAT!!
This poem kinda makes me feel bad just because someone dies. But still this poem is geniuos!!
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