Poe's Poetry Summary and Analysis of "Annabel Lee"

Summary:
Long ago, "in a kingdom by the sea," lived Annabel Lee, who loved the narrator. Both she and the narrator were children but knew love more powerful than that of the angels, who envied them. A wind chilled and killed Annabel, but their love was too strong to be defeated by angels or demons. The narrator is reminded of Annabel Lee by everything, including the moon and the stars, and at night, he lies by her tomb by the sea.

Poe's Poetry Summary and Analysis of "Eldorado"

Summary:
A gaily dressed and gallantly singing knight has searched day and night for Eldorado, but as time passes, he grows older and more melancholy because he cannot find it. As he loses his strength, he asks a "pilgrim shadow" of Eldorado's whereabouts, and the shadow replies that he must go "over the mountains of the moon" and "down the Valley of the Shadow" to find Eldorado.

Poe's Poetry Summary and Analysis of "The Bells"

Summary:
The silver bells of the sleds are merry and keep time in the winter nights while the sky twinkles happily. The golden bells of weddings are delightful in their peaceful happiness, foretelling a rapturous future. Meanwhile, the brazen alarm bells scream frightfully in the night, with a discordant and desperate sound. In their clamor, these bells convey terror, horror, and anger. Finally, the iron bells are solemn and melancholy, while those in the church steeple are like ghouls who feel

Poe's Poetry Summary and Analysis of "Ulalume"

Summary:
On a lonely, gloomy October night, near Auber Lake and Weir Forest, the narrator wanders through the woods. His heart is volcanic, full of heat, and restless as the lava currents, which roll down Mount Yaanek. He talks seriously to himself, but he does not pay attention to the date or to the location, although both are highly significant to him.
Finally, as the dawn approaches, he thinks about a bright star that apparently points out a path, but his

Poe's Poetry Summary and Analysis of "The Raven"

Summary:
The unnamed narrator is wearily perusing an old book one bleak December night when he hears a tapping at the door to his room. He tells himself that it is merely a visitor, and he awaits tomorrow because he cannot find release in his sorrow over the death of Lenore. The rustling curtains frighten him, but he decides that it must be some late visitor and, going to the door, he asks for forgiveness

Poe's Poetry Summary and Analysis of "The City in the Sea"

Summary:
Death rules in a lonely city in the far West, where the buildings are unfamiliar and everything has come to rest beside melancholy waters. Here, nighttime prevails, but light from the sea shines onto the towers, and Death looks down from his tower. The graves lie open, but none of their riches tempts the still waters. Then, suddenly, a breeze causes some movement in the sea, which gains a red glow as if to advent the coming of Hell as the city begins to sink.

Poe's Poetry Summary and Analysis of "A Dream Within a Dream"

Summary:
The narrator kisses the listener in parting. He tells the listener that he agrees that his life has been a dream, but he suggests that everything "is but a dream within a dream." He stands on the shore of the ocean, holding grains of sand as he cries. He cannot keep the sand from running out of his hand, and he wonders if he cannot save even one grain from the surf.
Analysis:
The structure of "A Dream Within a Dream" consists of two stanzas containing two disparate but

Poe's Poetry Summary and Analysis of "The Conqueror Worm"

Summary:
An audience of angels gathers to watch a play. Mimes fly around the stage, seemingly as puppets driven by invisible forces, and the plot describes sin, madness, and horror. The crawlingConqueror Worm then appears, writhing as it eats the mimes. The curtain falls, and the distressed angels affirm that the play is a tragedy called "Man" and that the Conqueror Worm is the hero.
Analysis:
In its relatively brief five stanzas, "The Conqueror Worm" seeks to tell the allegorical history of

Poe's Poetry Summary and Analysis of "Lenore"

De Verde cannot weep for his dead beloved Lenore. He gives an elegy in which he berates everyone for loving her wealth and hating her pride, suggesting that people had wished her ill and effectively killed her. The narrator asks him not to speak in this manner, although Lenore has taken away Hope in her death. Guy responds that he does not mourn because her soul has ascended to Heaven.
Analysis:
Poe returns to his frequent themes of death and beauty in "Lenore," where, as in many of his works,

Poe's Poetry Summary and Analysis of "To Helen" (1831)

Summary:
The narrator praises Helen for her beauty, which he compares to a ship bringing a "weary, wayworn wanderer" to his home. Her classic beauty has reminded him of ancient times, and he watches her stand like a statue while holding a stone lamp.
Analysis:

In "To Helen," first published in 1831 and revised in later years, Poe displays an early interest in the

Poe's Poetry Summary and Analysis of "Sonnet - To Science"

Science, by enforcing reality and its dull truth, takes away from the abilities of poets. A poet cannot love or respect Science because it would rather study the stars than listen to his fancies. Because of Science, the old myths about nymphs and nature have lost their power, and poets can no longer dream easily.
Analysis:
"Sonnet - To Science" is a poet's lament over the dangers of scientific development and its negative

Poe's Poetry Summary and Analysis of "Tamerlane"

While confessing his sins to a priest, the narrator Tamerlane says that he desires but does not expect forgiveness for the effect of his pride, and any hope he has must come from a divine rather than a human source. His glory and success have come at the expense of his heart, and he misses his younger days. Once, his spirit was triumphant, born of his early life on a mountain. He rejoiced in battle and victory, and he delighted in the praise of other men. However, in his youth, he fell in love with a woman whom he can now barely remember.

Poe's Poetry Summary

Although Poe wrote a relatively small number of poems over the course of his lifetime, his writings are still widely read, studied, and performed. "Tamerlane" was one of his earliest works, written originally in 1827 and published in his first poetry volume, Tamerlane and Other Poems, but he heavily revised and shortened this fanciful tale of the central Asian conqueror's deathbed confession when preparing it for publication in 1829's Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems. The introductory poem to this latter collection was "Sonnet - To Science," in which a poet laments the dulling effects