Lenore - Edgar Allan Poe

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"Ah, broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever!
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 be sung
By you -by yours, the evil eye, -by yours, the slanderous tongue
That did to death the innocence that died, and died so young?

Peccavimus; but rave not thus! and let a Sabbath song
Go 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 thy bride -
For her, the fair and debonnaire, 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! tonight my heart is light. No dirge will I upraise,
But waft the angel on her flight with a paean of old days!
Let no bell toll! -lest her sweet soul, amid its hallowed mirth,
Should catch the note, as it doth float up from the damned 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."

[justarandomperson]

I just can't stop listening to this poem

[cck]

Poe had an amazing talent to put his feelings into words. It’s a shame he died before his time. He was never truly appreciated, only maybe by his wife

[nicegirl]

I couldn't help but break into tears as I listened. I had a cousin pass away at the age of 19, and so my messed up things happened with the terrible people she knew. She was so good and amazing and I just feel like he expresses that perfectly.

[CommonSwense]

The urgency in the pace of your reading accentuates the uneasiness of the piece.
Well well done. Thank you.

[fiendwatch]

Yes, very good narrating. I still must say, what brought me here was thinking. Remembering this poem. Thinking of King of the Hill, and Bill. Now I'm giggling.

[jellyfish]

A very underrated work from the tortured genius Poe; overshadowed by the much better-known "Raven", but a masterpiece nevertheless.

[theheavymetalbrony]

I´m not surprised that H.P Lovecraft was a total fanboy for EAP.

You can really sense his style in his early stories, for he called them his Poe pieces, after all.

[PhoenixWakeStudios]

Wow, really good production values. Good job!

[ianbinnell]

Awesome id forgotten how brilliant this poem is ♥️♥️

[yuccamontoya]

I've always loved Edgar Allan poe!

[lllfff]

Who is here because of Sunrise on the Reaping?

[blootooth]

Why is the ending different than the original poem? I've found other readings have the same alteration at the end. Did Poe release multiple versions?

[JohnReadsPoetry]

Great interpretation, you definitely deserve more views. I have added your video to a public playlist I created here on YouTube called "Edgar Allan Poe - Lost Love Poems", in which you will find all the poems Poe wrote about his deeply felt feelings of grief over the death of the women he loved.

[tran-quili-ty]

whats the rhyme scheme of the first stanza?? can't tell because of the repetition at the end...

[yhr]

Did you change your name recently? Could have sworn the channel was called Henry Halloway. Either way fantastic reading as always, no one quite does Poe like you and this is one of his less appreciated pieces and yet one of the greatest.

[incognitivedistortion]

The last section of this poem reads differently than this video reads it. Why is that? Are there different versions that he wrote???