Stars in the sky,

For it sparkles with Annie
It glows with the light

Of the love of my Annie
With the thought of the light

Of the eyes of my Annie.

(1849)

TO MY MOTHER

Because I feel that, in the Heavens above,
The angels, whispering to one another,
Can find, among their burning terms of love,

100

None so devotional as that of "Mother,"

Therefore by that dear name I long have called you

5

You who are more than mother unto me,

And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you
In setting my Virginia's spirit free.

My mother

my own mother, who died early,

Was but the mother of myself; but you

Are mother to the one I loved so dearly,

And thus are dearer than the mother I knew

By that infinity with which my wife

Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.

(1849)

97 in of (F. O. U., H.J.); sky: heaven (F. O. U.). 99 light: fire (F. O. U.).

Title Sonnet ·

To My Mother (F. O. U., L.M.).

1 I feel that: the angels (L.M.).

2 The angels, whispering to: Devoutly singing unto (L.M.).

3 among: amid (L.M.).

5 dear: sweet (F. O. U., L.M.).

7 And fill: Filling (L.M.); Death: God (L.M.).

11 one: dead (L.M.).

12 Are thus more precious than the one I knew (L. M.).

1Ο

ANNABEL LEE

It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

She was a child and I was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love

With a love that the winged seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud by night
Chilling my Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me:

Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)

Title Annabel Lee. A Ballad (U.M.).

"She" and "I" are interchanged in the Tribune, P.P.A., and 1850.

15 by night: chilling (Tribune, U.M., P.P.A., 1850).

16 Chilling my: My beautiful (Tribune, U. M., P.P.A., 1850).

17 kinsmen: kinsman (U.M., 1850).

That the wind came out of the cloud, chilling
And killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we

Of many far wiser than we

And neither the angels in Heaven above

25

30

Nor the demons down under the sea,

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee: :

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea
In her tomb by the side of the sea.

35

40

(1849)

25 chilling: by night (Tribune, U.M., P.P.A., 1850).

26 And: Chilling and (Tribune, U.M., P.P.A., 1850). 36 see: feel (Tribune, U.M., P.P.A., 1850).

40 her: the (1850).

41 side of the sounding (Tribune, U.M., P.P.A., 1850).

UNCOLLECTED VERSES

ELIZABETH

Elizabeth, it surely is most fit

[Logic and common usage so commanding]
In thy own book that first thy name be writ,
Zeno and other sages notwithstanding;

And I have other reasons for so doing
Besides my innate love of contradiction;
Each poet-if a poet-in pursuing

The muses thro' their bowers of Truth or Fiction,
Has studied very little of his part,

Read nothing, written less - in short 's a fool
Endued with neither soul, nor sense, nor art,
Being ignorant of one important rule,
Employed in even the theses of the school-

Called — I forget the heathenish Greek name

[Called anything, its meaning is the same]

Always write first things uppermost in the heart."

AN ACROSTIC

Elizabeth, it is in vain you say,

"Love not " - thou sayest it in so sweet a way.

In vain those words from thee or L. E. L.,
Zanthippe's talents had enforced so well.
Ah! if that language from thy heart arise,
Breathe it less gently forth,- and veil thine eyes.
Endymion, recollect, when Luna tried

To cure his love, was cured of all beside.

His folly pride and passion-for he died.

136

SERENADE

So sweet the hour, so calm the time,

I feel it more than half a crime,

When Nature sleeps and stars are mute,

To mar the silence ev'n with lute.

At rest on ocean's brilliant dyes
An image of Elysium lies:

Seven Pleiades entranced in Heaven,
Form in the deep another seven :
Endymion nodding from above
Sees in the sea a second love.
Within the valleys dim and brown,
And on the spectral mountain's crown,
The wearied light is dying down,
And earth, and stars, and sea, and sky
Are redolent of sleep, as I

Am redolent of thee and thine
Enthralling love, my Adeline.

But list, O list, so soft and low

Thy lover's voice tonight shall flow,

That, scarce awake, thy soul shall deem
My words the music of a dream.
Thus, while no single sound too rude
Upon thy slumber shall intrude,

Our thoughts, our souls-O God above!
In every deed shall mingle, love.

5

10

15

20

25

5 dyes: dies (B.S.V.).

18 dying: lying (B.S.V.).