Edgar Allan Poe – Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago,In a kingdom by the sea,That a maiden there lived whom you may knowBy the name of ANNABEL LEE;And this maiden she lived with no other thoughtThan to love and be loved by me.I was a child and she was a child,In this kingdom by the sea;But we loved...

Edgar Allan Poe – Serenade

So sweet the hour, so calm the time,I feel it more than half a crime,When Nature sleeps and stars are mute,To mar the silence ev'n with lute.At rest on ocean's brilliant dyesAn image of Elysium lies:Seven Pleiades entranced in Heaven,Form in the deep another seven:Endymion nodding...

Edgar Allan Poe – The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "'Tis some visitor," I muttered,...

Edgar Allan Poe – A Dream

In visions of the dark nightI have dreamed of joy departed-But a waking dream of life and lightHath left me broken-hearted.Ah! what is not a dream by dayTo him whose eyes are castOn things around him with a rayTurned back upon the past?That holy dream- that holy dream,While all...

Edgar Allan Poe – A Valentine

For her this rhyme is penned, whose luminous eyes,Brightly expressive as the twins of Leda,Shall find her own sweet name, that nestling liesUpon the page, enwrapped from every reader.Search narrowly the lines!- they hold a treasureDivine- a talisman- an amuletThat must be worn at...

Edgar Allan Poe – An Acrostic

Elizabeth it is in vain you say"Love not" — thou sayest it in so sweet a way:In vain those words from thee or L. E. L.Zantippe's talents had enforced so well:Ah! if that language from thy heart arise,Breathe it less gently forth — and veil thine eyes.Endymion, recollect, when Luna...

Edgar Allan Poe – Bridal Ballad

The ring is on my hand,And the wreath is on my brow;Satin and jewels grandAre all at my command,And I am happy now.And my lord he loves me well;But, when first he breathed his vow,I felt my bosom swell-For the words rang as a knell,And the voice seemed his who fellIn the battle...

Edgar Allan Poe – Eldorado

Gaily bedight,A gallant knight,In sunshine and in shadow,Had journeyed long,Singing a song,In search of Eldorado.But he grew old-This knight so bold-And o'er his heart a shadowFell as he foundNo spot of groundThat looked like Eldorado.And, as his strengthFailed him at length,He...

Edgar Allan Poe – Epigram for Wall Street

I'll tell you a plan for gaining wealth,Better than banking, trade or leases —Take a bank note and fold it up,And then you will find your money in creases!This wonderful plan, without danger or loss,Keeps your cash in your hands, where nothing can trouble it;And every time that...

Edgar Allan Poe – Evening Star

'Twas noontide of summer,And mid-time of night;And stars, in their orbits,Shone pale, thro' the lightOf the brighter, cold moon,'Mid planets her slaves,Herself in the Heavens,Her beam on the waves.I gazed awhileOn her cold smile;Too cold- too cold for me-There pass'd, as a shroud,A...

Edgar Allan Poe – Hymn

At morn- at noon- at twilight dim-Maria! thou hast heard my hymn!In joy and woe- in good and ill-Mother of God, be with me still!When the hours flew brightly by,And not a cloud obscured the sky,My soul, lest it should truant be,Thy grace did guide to thine and thee;Now, when storms...

Edgar Allan Poe – Israfel

In Heaven a spirit doth dwell"Whose heart-strings are a lute";None sing so wildly wellAs the angel Israfel,And the giddy stars (so legends tell),Ceasing their hymns, attend the spellOf his voice, all mute.Tottering aboveIn her highest noon,The enamored moonBlushes with love,While,...

Edgar Allan Poe – Spirits Of The Dead

Thy soul shall find itself alone'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tombstone;Not one, of all the crowd, to pryInto thine hour of secrecy.Be silent in that solitude,Which is not loneliness- for thenThe spirits of the dead, who stoodIn life before thee, are againIn death around thee,...

Edgar Allan Poe – Sancta Maria

Sancta Maria! turn thine eyes -Upon the sinner's sacrifice,Of fervent prayer and humble love,From thy holy throne above.At morn - at noon - at twilight dim -Maria! thou hast heard my hymn!In joy and wo - in good and ill -Mother of God, be with me still!When the Hours flew brightly...

Edgar Allan Poe – Sonnet - To Science

Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art! Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes. Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart, Vulture, whose wings are dull realities? How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise, Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering To...

Edgar Allan Poe – The Bells

IHear the sledges with the bells-Silver bells!What a world of merriment their melody foretells!How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,In the icy air of night!While the stars that oversprinkleAll the heavens, seem to twinkleWith a crystalline delight;Keeping time, time, time,In a sort of...

Edgar Allan Poe – A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!And, in parting from you now,Thus much let me avow-You are not wrong, who deemThat my days have been a dream;Yet if hope has flown awayIn a night, or in a day,In a vision, or in none,Is it therefore the less gone?All that we see or seemIs but a dream...

Edgar Allan Poe – The Conqueror Worm

Lo! 'tis a gala nightWithin the lonesome latter years!An angel throng, bewinged, bedightIn veils, and drowned in tears,Sit in a theatre, to seeA play of hopes and fears,While the orchestra breathes fitfullyThe music of the spheres.Mimes, in the form of God on high,Mutter and mumble...

Edgar Allan Poe – To Helen - 1848

I saw thee once- once only- years ago:I must not say how many- but not many.It was a July midnight; and from outA full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring,Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven,There fell a silvery-silken veil of light,With quietude, and sultriness,...

Edgar Allan Poe – The Happiest Day

The happiest day- the happiest hourMy sear'd and blighted heart hath known,The highest hope of pride and power,I feel hath flown.Of power! said I? yes! such I ween;But they have vanish'd long, alas!The visions of my youth have been-But let them pass.And, pride, what have I now with...