To Marie Louise (Shew)
To Marie Louise (Shew) - meaning Summary
Gratitude as Devotion
Poe addresses Marie Louise as a salvific presence who turns absence into light and restores faith, virtue, and humanity. The speaker credits her gentle words and radiant eyes with reviving those sunk in despair, likening the response to resurrection. He frames his own gratitude as almost worshipful, calling himself the truest, most devoted recipient of her influence and presenting the poem as a humble, heartfelt offering of thanks.
Read Complete AnalysesOf all who hail thy presence as the morning- Of all to whom thine absence is the night- The blotting utterly from out high heaven The sacred sun- of all who, weeping, bless thee Hourly for hope- for life- ah! above all, For the resurrection of deep-buried faith In Truth- in Virtue- in Humanity- Of all who, on Despair’s unhallowed bed Lying down to die, have suddenly arisen At thy soft-murmured words, ‘Let there be light!’ At the soft-murmured words that were fulfilled In the seraphic glancing of thine eyes- Of all who owe thee most- whose gratitude Nearest resembles worship- oh, remember The truest- the most fervently devoted, And think that these weak lines are written by him- By him who, as he pens them, thrills to think His spirit is communing with an angel’s.
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