Romance
Romance - fact Summary
Published in 1831
Romance
frames a bird-like, comforting presence that taught the speaker the beginnings of language and poetic feeling in childhood. The poem turns to the adult present, where Condor years
of turmoil shake the heavens and leave little time for idle poetic reverie; when calm moments do come, lyrical play feels forbidden or guilty. The piece is widely interpreted as autobiographical, reflecting Poe's early poetic awakening and his later conflict between artistic inclination and harsh life pressures. It was written in 1829 and published in 1831 in the collection Poems.
Romance, who loves to nod and sing, with drowsy head and folded wing, among the green leaves as they shake far down within some shadowy lake, to me a painted paroquet hath been — a most familiar bird — taught me my alphabet to say — to lisp my very earliest word while in the wild wood I did lie, a child—with a most knowing eye. Of late, eternal Condor years so shake the very Heaven on high with tumult as they thunder by, I have no time for idle cares though gazing on the unquiet sky. And when an hour with calmer wings its down upon my spirit flings — that little time with lyre and rhyme to while away — forbidden things! My heart would feel to be a crime unless it trembled with the strings.
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