Edgar Allan Poem

Edgar Allan Poe has many poems that could fit the Dark Romanticism characterization because Poe really embodied it with a lot of his works. There are similarities between Romanticism and Dark Romanticism, but Dark Romanticism has its own specific characteristics. Some common elements are mystery, supernatural, and imagination (Randon). It also represents the belief that mankind does not possess divinity or perfection, but are prone to sin or other bad things. It can show failures of men, and have an all-powerful nature reveal how weak man really is (Randon). Many of Poe’s, and other poets’, poems will depict tragedies or death. A poem that represents the Dark Romanticism period does not have to have all of these qualities, but it usually possesses some or similar characteristics. This is almost like a response to transcendentalism because it shows flaws in a way that almost mocks it.

Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Lenore” implements a lot of Dark Romanticism elements. He starts his poem by telling of people singing “An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young” (Poem Hunter). He has already depicted a tragedy, but, like Shakespeare, this tragedy has a good outcome. In life, Lenore was “loved for her wealth and hated for her pride”, but when she dies she is in a better place. Poe says she gone “From grief and groan, to a golden throne, beside the King of Heaven!” (Poem Hunter). He shows how powerless and evil or sinful the mortal world is by calling it the “damned Earth” from which Lenore literally transcends. As Sova explains, the poem is about a loving husband who is upset by the way people looked at and treated Lenore, and he will mourn by singing. The singing aspect really has a lot to do with the poem. In the first stanza the people are singing an anthem at Lenore’s funeral; in the next two stanzas the narrator questions the people who are singing with lines like “How shall the ritual, then, be read?- the requiem how be sung. By you- by yours, the evil eye,- by yours, the slanderous tongue”; and it ends on her “flight with a Paean of old days” (Poem Hunter). The poem represents ideas about jealousy and love, like many other poems. The “wretches”, as Poe calls the people who can presumably be friends or family, hated Lenore’s pride. The poem says several times that she “died so young”, and it explains why by saying “she fell in feeble health” (Poem Hunter). So it is assumed that Lenore became fatally sick for some reason, and the only person who really cared was the narrator, but when she dies others probably want to take a part of her wealth. This poem deals with the reoccurring theme of death. The Romanticism poets seem to believe that, because death is so inevitable, it should be looked at very differently than a devastating event. It is either a coming together with nature or transcendence to Heaven. There is usually a optimistic view of this tragedy that is seen in both Romanticism and Dark Romanticism.

Poem Hunter. “Lenore.” Edgar Allan Poe. http://poemhunter.com/poem/lenore/

Randon. “Dark Romanticism Notes (1840-1865).” http://www.wordfight.org/dromanticism/dr-unit_packet.pdf

Sova, Dawn B. "'Lenore'." Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= ffazpoe0692&SingleRecord=True (accessed January 17, 2012).