Spirits of the Dead
Spirits of the Dead - context Summary
Composed 1827, Published 1829
Written in 1827 and first published in 1829 in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems, Spirits of the Dead compresses Poe’s recurring concern with death, loss, and the supernatural into a brief lyric. It addresses a solitary soul whose inner secrecy invites the presence of the dead, produces oppressive night imagery and feverish stars, and leaves permanent, intrusive visions. The poem treats solitude as a state distinct from loneliness and ends with mist as a mutable symbol. Its mood and motifs reflect Poe’s early bereavements and lifelong preoccupation with mortality.
Read Complete AnalysesThy soul shall find itself alone 'mid dark thoughts of the grey tombstone; Not one, of all the crowd, to pry into thine hour of secrecy. Be silent in that solitude, which is not loneliness - for then the spirits of the dead, who stood in life before thee, are again in death around thee, and their will shall overshadow thee; be still. The night, though clear, shall frown, and the stars shall not look down from their high thrones in the Heaven with light like hope to mortals given, but their red orbs, without beam, to thy weariness shall seem as a burning and a fever which would cling to thee for ever. Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish, now are visions ne'er to vanish; From thy spirit shall they pass no more, like dewdrop from the grass. The breeze, the breath of God, is still, and the mist upon the hill shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken, is a symbol and a token. How it hangs upon the trees, a mystery of mysteries!
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