Eulalie
I dwelt aloneIn a world of moan,And my soul was a stagnant tide,Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride—Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride.
Ah, less—less brightThe stars of the nightThan the eyes of the radiant girl!And never a flakeThat the vapour can makeWith the moon-tints of purple and pearl,Can vie with the modest Eulalie’s most unregarded curl—Can compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie’s most humble and carelesscurl.
Now Doubt—now PainCome never again,For her soul gives me sigh for sigh,And all day longShines, bright and strong,Astarté within the sky,While ever to her dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye—While ever to her young Eulalie upturns her violet eye.
Words in this poem
- flake n.
- A paling; a hurdle. [prov. Eng.] [Cf. Icel. flaki, fleki, Dan. flage, D. vlaak.]
- vapour n.
- Any substance in the gaseous, or aëriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid. [OE. vapour, OF. vapour, vapor, vapeur, F. vapeur, L. vapor; probably for cvapor, and akin to Gr. kvepti to breathe, smell, Russ. kopote fine soot. Cf. Vapid.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Eulalie is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poetical works of Edgar Allan Poe, Project Gutenberg ebook #79019; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edgar Allan Poe, Eulalie, in The Raven, and Other Poems (1827–1849), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #79019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poe-poems/eulalie.html, id L04166.
Form and metre
Eulalie is 22 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 55% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBB aloneA · moanA · tideB · brideB · brideB
- 2 AABCCBB-B brightA · nightA · girlB · flakeC · makeC · pearlB · curlB · careless · curlB
- 3 AABCCBBB painA · againA · sighB · longC · strongC · skyB · eyeB · eyeB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I dwelt alone | 4 | ··˘/ |
| In a world of moan, | 5 | ····· |
| And my soul was a stagnant tide, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride— | 15 | ····/˘···˘/·/˘· |
| Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride. | 15 | ··/˘·····˘/·/˘· |
| Ah, less—less bright | 4 | ···· |
| The stars of the night | 5 | ····· |
| Than the eyes of the radiant girl! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And never a flake | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| That the vapour can make | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| With the moon-tints of purple and pearl, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Can vie with the modest Eulalie’s most unregarded curl— | 14 | ····/˘········ |
| Can compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie’s most humble and careless | 15 | ·˘/·······/˘·/˘ |
| curl. | 1 | · |
| Now Doubt—now Pain | 4 | ···· |
| Come never again, | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| For her soul gives me sigh for sigh, | 8 | ········ |
| And all day long | 4 | ···· |
| Shines, bright and strong, | 4 | ···· |
| Astarté within the sky, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| While ever to her dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye— | 14 | ·/······/··/˘· |
| While ever to her young Eulalie upturns her violet eye. | 14 | ·/······/··/˘· |
Notes from the edition 1
Notes by J. Montgomery Gambrill, Selections from Poe (Boston, 1907; Project Gutenberg #8893).
- Stanza 3, line 6 Astarte. See note on line 37 of "Ulalume," page 189.
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.