Analysis of Poe's poem

Many of the great poet, Edgar Allen Poe's, poems have similar themes and messges. They are all very dark, mysterious, and lots of times are written to his loves rather they be alive or dead, either way. In class we read the poem Anabel Lee, which was talking of his astounding love with Anabel Lee and how he was taken from her, but the two's love was strong enough to fight through her being taken by the angels from him. A common theme both I, and other Literary criticists have discovered in dark romanticism pieces is that there is almost always a dark mystical vibe, also a lot of times there is something supernatural about it whether that be magic or something with death(Stade). This was present in Anabel Lee when talking of his love to someone who is no longer with them because she was chilled a.k.a. is now dead.

This common theme was also evident in the poem To one Departed by Edgar Allen Poe. The poem is talking about a memory of what is now an angel, or someone who has died. He refers to them as a seraph, and how it is nothing more than a memory and compares the person to an enchanted far off land(To One Departed). This is an example of a characteristic of the dark romanticism period because the whole poem is about one of his dearly departed which once again is death. And even talking about the enchanted far off land is a red flag to this being a piece from the dark romanticism because enchanted is mystical or supernatural which are two words often used to describe the writing in this period.

This poem, much like many of his others is very sad because he has lost a loved one. They are nothing but a mere memory to them. He says it is a memory he likes to think about, but it almost does not seem real even as a memory because in the time's reality they were no longer there. I know what he means. It is like when sometimes you dream about someone like your dead grandpa and about memories you had with them, and then when you wake up you have no idea if those memories every happened or if it was just a dream all along. The whole idea of that is very sad or dark and also a bit weird. Sadness, darkness, and strange are all also characteristics of this writing period as well. The love poe has for some of the people he writes about is almost magical. I do not know how he could still love someone that much after them being gone, but then again maybe he did not and it is just his writing that comes off that way. He was a very strange man I think which is why he wrote such strange poems. But hey this guy was pretty much made for writing pieces that were dark romanticism esque so good thing he was alive in this time period.


Stade, George, and Karen Karbiener. "romanticism." Encyclopedia of British Writers, 1800 to the Present, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EBWEP364&SingleRecord=True (accessed January 18, 2012).

"To One Departed, by Edgar Allan Poe." Poetry Archive | Poems. Web. 18 Jan. 2012.