Analysis of To -- -- --. Ulalume: A Ballad
Edgar Allan Poe 1809 (Boston) – 1849 (Baltimore)
The skies they were ashen and sober;
The leaves they were crisped and sere-
The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemorial year;
It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
In the misty mid region of Weir-
It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
Here once, through an alley Titanic,
Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul-
Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.
There were days when my heart was volcanic
As the scoriac rivers that roll-
As the lavas that restlessly roll
Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek
In the ultimate climes of the pole-
That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek
In the realms of the boreal pole.
Our talk had been serious and sober,
But our thoughts they were palsied and sere-
Our memories were treacherous and sere-
For we knew not the month was October,
And we marked not the night of the year-
(Ah, night of all nights in the year!)
We noted not the dim lake of Auber-
(Though once we had journeyed down here),
Remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,
Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
And now, as the night was senescent,
And star-dials pointed to morn-
As the star-dials hinted of morn-
At the end of our path a liquescent
And nebulous lustre was born,
Out of which a miraculous crescent
Arose with a duplicate horn-
Astarte's bediamonded crescent
Distinct with its duplicate horn.
And I said- 'She is warmer than Dian:
She rolls through an ether of sighs-
She revels in a region of sighs:
She has seen that the tears are not dry on
These cheeks, where the worm never dies,
And has come past the stars of the Lion,
To point us the path to the skies-
To the Lethean peace of the skies-
Come up, in despite of the Lion,
To shine on us with her bright eyes-
Come up through the lair of the Lion,
With love in her luminous eyes.'
But Psyche, uplifting her finger,
Said- 'Sadly this star I mistrust-
Her pallor I strangely mistrust:-
Oh, hasten!- oh, let us not linger!
Oh, fly!- let us fly!- for we must.'
In terror she spoke, letting sink her
Wings until they trailed in the dust-
In agony sobbed, letting sink her
Plumes till they trailed in the dust-
Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.
I replied- 'This is nothing but dreaming:
Let us on by this tremulous light!
Let us bathe in this crystalline light!
Its Sybilic splendor is beaming
With Hope and in Beauty to-night:-
See!- it flickers up the sky through the night!
Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming,
And be sure it will lead us aright-
We safely may trust to a gleaming
That cannot but guide us aright,
Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night.'
Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her,
And tempted her out of her gloom-
And conquered her scruples and gloom;
And we passed to the end of the vista,
But were stopped by the door of a tomb-
By the door of a legended tomb;
And I said- 'What is written, sweet sister,
On the door of this legended tomb?'
She replied- 'Ulalume- Ulalume-
'Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!'
Then my heart it grew ashen and sober
As the leaves that were crisped and sere-
As the leaves that were withering and sere-
And I cried- 'It was surely October
On this very night of last year
That I journeyed- I journeyed down here-
That I brought a dread burden down here-
On this night of all nights in the year,
Ah, what demon has tempted me here?
Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber-
This misty mid region of Weir-
Well I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber,
This ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.'
Scheme | ABBABACAC DEEDEEDEDE ABBABBACAC FGGFGFGFG HIIXIHIIHIHI AFFAFAFAFF JFFJFFJFJFF AKKFKKAKKK ABBABCCBCACAC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011010010 0110101 011010001 1110010010 11101001 1111011110 001011011 1111011110 00110111 111110010 11011111 11011011 1011111010 1011011 10111001 111011 001001101 11111111 0011011 10111100010 110110101 10100010001 1111011010 011101101 11111001 1101011110 11111011 0101011110 10110111 0110111 01101011 101101011 101110101 01001011 1110010010 01101001 1110 01111001 0111110110 11111011 110001011 1111011111 11101101 0111011010 11101101 1011101 110011010 11111011 111011010 11001001 11010010 11011101 0111001 110111110 11111111 010111010 10111001 010011010 1111001 1111001 1011110110 111111001 11101101 1110110 11001011 1110101101 1110111110 01111111 110111010 1101111 11101110101 111010010 01001101 01001001 0111011010 101101101 1011011 0111110110 1011111 10111 1011111 1111110010 10110101 1011010001 0111110010 11101111 111011011 111011011 111111001 111011011 1111111110 11011011 1111111110 1110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 4,211 |
Words | 674 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 10, 10, 9, 12, 10, 11, 10, 13 |
Lines Amount | 94 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 301 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 73 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 19, 2023
- 3:20 min read
- 150 Views
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