Lenore
Ah, broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown for ever!Let the bell toll!—a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river;And, Guy De Vere, hast thou no tear?—weep now or never more!
See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore!Come! let the burial rite be read—the funeral song be sung!—An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young—A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young.
Wretches! ye loved her for her wealth and hated her for her pride,And when she fell in feeble health, ye blessed her—that she died!How shall the ritual, then, be read?—-the requiem how besungBy you—by yours, the evil eye,—by yours, the slanderous tongueThat did to death the innocence that died, and died so young?
Peccavimus; but rave not thus! and let a Sabbath songGo up to God so solemnly the dead may feel no wrong!The sweet Lenore hath “gone before,” with Hope, that flew beside,Leaving thee wild for the dear child that should have been thybride—For her, the fair and débonnaire, that now so lowly lies,The life upon her yellow hair, but not within her eyes—The life still there, upon her hair—the death upon her eyes.
“Avaunt! to-night my heart is light. No dirge will I upraise,But waft the angel on her flight with a pæan of old days!Let no bell toll!—lest her sweet soul, amid its hallowedmirth,Should catch the note, as it doth float up from the damnèd Earth.To friends above, from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven—From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven—From grief and groan, to a golden throne, beside the King of Heaven.”
Words in this poem 19
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- saintly a.
- Like a saint; becoming a holy person.
- stygian a.
- Of or pertaining to the river Styx; hence, hellish; infernal.
- vere v. i.
- To change direction; to turn; to shift; as, wind veers to the west or north. [F. virer (cf. Sp. virar, birar), LL. virare; perhaps fr. L. vibrare to brandish, vibrate (cf. Vibrate); or cf. L. viriae armlets, bracelets, viriola a little br]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- burial n.
- A grave; a tomb; a place of sepulture. [OE. buriel, buriels, grave, tomb, AS. byrgels, fr. byrgan to bury, and akin to OS. burgisli sepulcher.]
- anthem v. t.
- To celebrate with anthems.
- dirge n.
- A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. [Contraction of Lat. dirige, direct thou (imperative of dirigere), the first word of a funeral hymn (Lat. transl. of Psalm v. 8) beginning, "Dirige, Domine, in c]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- requiem n.
- A mass said or sung for the repose of a departed soul. [Acc. of L. requies rest, the first words of the Mass being "Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine," give eternal rest to them, O lord; pref. re- re + quies quiet. S]
- avaunt v. t.
- To advance; to move forward; to elevate.
- upraise v. t.
- To raise; to lift up.
- waft v. t.
- To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. [Prob. originally imp. & p. p. of wave, v. t. See Wave to waver.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- indignant a.
- Affected with indignation; wrathful; passionate; irate; feeling wrath, as when a person is exasperated by unworthy or unjust treatment, by a mean action, or by a degrading accusation. [L. indignans, -antis, p. pr. of indignari to be indignant, disdain. See Indign.]
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lenore 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, Lenore, in The Complete Poetical Works (1827–1849), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #79019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poe-poems/lenore.html, id L04149.
Form and metre
Lenore is 29 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.5 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic heptameter.
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.
- 2 -AAA lenore · sungA · youngA · youngA
- 3 AA-BBB prideA · diedA · be · sungB · tongueB · youngB
- 4 AAB-BCCC songA · wrongA · besideB · thy · brideB · liesC · eyesC · eyesC
- 5 AA-BB-CC upraiseA · daysA · hallowed · mirthB · earthB · riven · heavenC · heavenC
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 heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ah, broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown for ever! | 13 | ·/˘··/˘··/··/ |
| Let the bell toll!—a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river; | 15 | ·····/˘····/˘/˘ |
| And, Guy De Vere, hast thou no tear?—weep now or never more! | 13 | ···········/· |
| See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore! | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| Come! let the burial rite be read—the funeral song be sung!— | 14 | ···/˘····/˘··· |
| An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young— | 13 | ·/˘······/··· |
| A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young. | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| Wretches! ye loved her for her wealth and hated her for her pride, | 15 | ·········/˘···· |
| And when she fell in feeble health, ye blessed her—that she died! | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| How shall the ritual, then, be read?—-the requiem how be | 13 | ···/˘····/˘·· |
| sung | 1 | · |
| By you—by yours, the evil eye,—by yours, the slanderous tongue | 13 | ·····/····/˘· |
| That did to death the innocence that died, and died so young? | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| Peccavimus; but rave not thus! and let a Sabbath song | 14 | ···········/˘· |
| Go up to God so solemnly the dead may feel no wrong! | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| The sweet Lenore hath “gone before,” with Hope, that flew beside, | 14 | ············˘/ |
| Leaving thee wild for the dear child that should have been thy | 13 | /˘··········· |
| bride— | 1 | · |
| For her, the fair and débonnaire, that now so lowly lies, | 14 | ···········/˘· |
| The life upon her yellow hair, but not within her eyes— | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| The life still there, upon her hair—the death upon her eyes. | 14 | ·············· |
| “Avaunt! to-night my heart is light. No dirge will I upraise, | 14 | ˘/··········˘/ |
| But waft the angel on her flight with a pæan of old days! | 14 | ···/˘········· |
| Let no bell toll!—lest her sweet soul, amid its hallowed | 13 | ········˘/·/˘ |
| mirth, | 1 | · |
| Should catch the note, as it doth float up from the damnèd Earth. | 13 | ············· |
| To friends above, from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven— | 16 | ·········˘/˘··/˘ |
| From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven— | 14 | ······˘/·····/ |
| From grief and groan, to a golden throne, beside the King of Heaven.” | 15 | ······/˘·˘/···/ |
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.