Short Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

Table of Contents

• Dreams and Reflections Poems
• Love and Beauty Poems
• Melancholy and Loss Poems
• Mystery and Symbolism Poems
• Bio of Edgar Allan Poe
• Quotes by Edgar Allan Poe
• Frequently Asked Questions about Edgar Allan Poe

By Catherine Pulsifer, updated September 20, 2024

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Dreams and Reflections Poems

These poems explore the fleeting nature of dreams and the fine line between reality and imagination.


1. A Dream
   Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
   
   In visions of the dark night
   I have dreamed of joy departed-
   But a waking dream of life and light
   Hath left me broken-hearted.
   
   Ah! what is not a dream by day
   To him whose eyes are cast
   On things around him with a ray
   Turned back upon the past?
   
   That holy dream- that holy dream,
   While all the world were chiding,
   Hath cheered me as a lovely beam
   A lonely spirit guiding.
   
   What though that light, thro' storm and night,
   So trembled from afar-
   What could there be more purely bright
   In Truth's day-star?




2. A Dream Within A Dream
   Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
   
   Take this kiss upon the brow!
   And, in parting from you now,
   Thus much let me avow -
   You are not wrong, who deem
   That my days have been a dream;
   Yet if hope has flown away
   In a night, or in a day,
   In a vision, or in none,
   Is it therefore the less gone?
   All that we see or seem
   Is but a dream within a dream.
   
   I stand amid the roar
   Of a surf-tormented shore,
   And I hold within my hand
   Grains of the golden sand -
   How few! yet how they creep
   Through my fingers to the deep,
   While I weep - while I weep!
   O God! can I not grasp
   Them with a tighter clasp?
   O God! can I not save
   One from the pitiless wave?
   Is all that we see or seem
   But a dream within a dream?


Analysis of the A Dream Within A Dream:
Explores the fleeting nature of reality and the idea that life might be an illusion. The poem reflects Poe's feelings of helplessness and the inevitability of loss. It questions whether any experience, be it joy or sorrow, is truly real or merely a passing dream.



3. Imitation
   Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
   
   A dark unfathomed tide
   Of interminable pride -
   A mystery, and a dream,
   Should my early life seem;
   I say that dream was fraught
   With a wild and waking thought
   Of beings that have been,
   Which my spirit hath not seen,
   Had I let them pass me by,
   With a dreaming eye!
   Let none of earth inherit
   That vision of my spirit;
   Those thoughts I would control,
   As a spell upon his soul:
   For that bright hope at last
   And that light time have past,
   And my worldly rest hath gone
   With a sigh as it passed on:
   I care not though it perish
   With a thought I then did cherish.







4. Romance
   Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
   
   Romance, who loves to nod and sing,
   With drowsy head and folded wing,
   Among the green leaves as they shake
   Far down within some shadowy lake,
   To me a painted paroquet
   Hath been- a most familiar bird-
   Taught me my alphabet to say-
   To lisp my very earliest word
   While in the wild wood I did lie,
   A child- with a most knowing eye.
   
   Of late, eternal Condor years
   So shake the very Heaven on high
   With tumult as they thunder by,
   I have no time for idle cares
   Through gazing on the unquiet sky.
   And when an hour with calmer wings
   Its down upon my spirit flings-
   That little time with lyre and rhyme
   To while away- forbidden things!
   My heart would feel to be a crime
   Unless it trembled with the strings.


Related: Poems About Dreams

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Love and Beauty Poems

Poe's poetic tributes to the beauty and mystique of love, often with a haunting twist.


5. To Helen
   Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
   
   Helen, thy beauty is to me
   Like those Nicsean barks of yore
   That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,
   The weary, wayworn wanderer bore
   To his own native shore.
   
   On desperate seas long wont to roam.
   Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face.
   Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
   To the glory that was Greece
   And the grandeur that was Rome.
   
   Lo! in yon brilliant window niche
   How statue-like I see thee stand,
   The agate lamp within thy hand!
   Ah, Psyche, from the regions which
   Are Holy Land!


Thoughts on the Poem, To Helen
To Helen is celebrated for its lyrical beauty and classical allusions to Greek and Roman culture. The poem praises a woman’s beauty, comparing her to a ship guiding a weary traveler home, symbolizing comfort and serenity. Its graceful language and reverence for the subject make it one of Poe’s most admired poems.



6. To The River
   Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
   
   Fair river! in thy bright, clear flow
   Of crystal, wandering water,
   Thou art an emblem of the glow
   Of beauty - the unhidden heart -
   The playful maziness of art
   In old Alberto's daughter;
   
   But when within thy wave she looks -
   Which glistens then, and trembles -
   Why, then, the prettiest of brooks
   Her worshipper resembles;
   For in my heart, as in thy stream,
   Her image deeply lies -
   The heart which trembles at the beam
   Of her soul-searching eyes.







7. To One In Paradise
   Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
   
   Thou wast all that to me, love.
   For which my soul did pine:
   A green isle in the sea, love,
   A fountain and a shrine
   All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,
   And all the flowers were mine.
   
   Ah! dream too bright to last!
   Ah! starry hope that didst arise
   But to be overcast!
   A voice from out the future cries,
   "On! on! " - but o'er the Past
   (Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies
   Mute, motionless, aghast.
   
   For alas! alas! with me
   The light of life is o'er!
   No more - no more - no more -
   (Such language holds the solemn sea
   To the sands upon the shore)
   Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree,
   Or the stricken eagle soar.
   
   And all my days are trances.
   And all my nightly dreams
   Are where thy gray eye glances.
   And where thy footstep gleams.
   In what ethereal dances,
   By what eternal streams.




8. Serenade
   Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
   
   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.




9. A Valentine
   Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
   
   For her this rhyme is penned, whose luminous eyes,
   Brightly expressive as the twins of Leda,
   Shall find her own sweet name, that, nestling lies
   Upon the page, enwrapped from every reader.
   Search narrowly the lines! - they hold a treasure
   Divine - a talisman - an amulet
   That must be worn at heart. Search well the measure -
   The words - the syllables! Do not forget
   The trivialest point, or you may lose your labor!
   And yet there is in this no Gordian knot
   Which one might not undo without a sabre,
   If one could merely comprehend the plot.
   Unwritten upon the leaf where now are peering
   Eyes scintillating soul, there lie perdu,
   Three eloquent words oft uttered in the hearing
   Of poets, by poets - as the name is a poet's, too.
   Its letters, although naturally lying
   Like the knight Pinto - Mendez Ferdinando -
   Still form a synonym for Truth. Cease trying!
   You will not read the riddle, though you do the best you can do.


Related: Short Love Poems

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Melancholy and Loss Poems

In these poems, the themes of sorrow and the inevitability of loss resonate deeply.


10. The Happiest Day
    Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
    
    The happiest day - the happiest hour
    My sear'd and blighted heart hath known,
    The highest hope of pride and power,
    I feel hath flown.
    
    Of power! said I? yes! such I ween;
    But they have vanish'd long, alas!
    The visions of my youth have been-
    But let them pass.
    
    And, pride, what have I now with thee?
    Another brow may even inherit
    The venom thou hast pour'd on me
    Be still, my spirit!
    
    The happiest day - the happiest hour
    Mine eyes shall see - have ever seen,
    The brightest glance of pride and power,
    I feel- have been:
    
    But were that hope of pride and power
    Now offer'd with the pain
    Even then I felt - that brightest hour
    I would not live again:
    
    For on its wing was dark alloy,
    And, as it flutter'd - fell
    An essence - powerful to destroy
    A soul that knew it well.







11. Evening Star
    Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
    
    'Twas noontide of summer,
    And mid-time of night;
    And stars, in their orbits,
    Shone pale, thro' the light
    Of the brighter, cold moon,
    'Mid planets her slaves,
    Herself in the Heavens,
    Her beam on the waves.
    I gazed awhile
    On her cold smile;
    Too cold- too cold for me -
    There pass'd, as a shroud,
    A fleecy cloud,
    And I turned away to thee,
    Proud Evening Star,
    In thy glory afar,
    And dearer thy beam shall be;
    For joy to my heart
    Is the proud part
    Thou bearest in Heaven at night,
    And more I admire
    Thy distant fire,
    Than that colder, lowly light.




12. The Valley of Unrest
    Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
    
    Once it smiled a silent dell
    Where the people did not dwell;
    They had gone unto the wars,
    Trusting to the mild-eyed stars,
    Nightly, from their azure towers,
    To keep watch above the flowers,
    In the midst of which all day
    The red sun-light lazily lay.
    
    Now each visitor shall confess
    The sad valley's restlessness.
    Nothing there is motionless -
    Nothing save the airs that brood
    Over the magic solitude.
    Ah, by no wind are stirred those trees
    That palpitate like the chill seas
    Around the misty Hebrides!
    
    Ah, by no wind those clouds are driven
    That rustle through the unquiet Heaven
    Uneasily, from morn till even,
    Over the violets there that lie
    In myriad types of the human eye
    Over the lilies there that wave
    And weep above a nameless grave!
    They wave: - from out their fragrant tops
    Eternal dews come down in drops.
    They weep: - from off their delicate stems
    Perennial tears descend in gems.


Related: Poems About Life

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Mystery and Symbolism Poems

Poems that delve into hidden meanings, rich in metaphor and eerie imagery.


13. The Bells
    Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
    
    Hear the sledges with the bells--
    Silver bells!
    What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
    How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
    In the icy air of night!
    While the stars, that oversprinkle
    All the heavens, seem to twinkle
    With a crystalline delight;
    Keeping time, time, time,
    In a sort of Runic rhyme,
    To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
    From the bells, bells, bells--
    Bells, bells, bells--
    From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.




14. A Verse From The Bells
    Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
    
    Hear the mellow wedding bells,
    Golden bells!
    What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
    Through the balmy air of night
    How they ring out their delight!
    From the molten-golden notes,
    
    And all in tune,
    What a liquid ditty floats
    To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
    On the moon!
    Oh, from out the sounding cells,
    What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
    
    How it swells!
    How it dwells
    On the Future! how it tells
    Of the rapture that impels so
    To the swinging and the ringing
    Of the bells, bells, bells.
    Of the bells, bells, bells, bells.
    Bells, bells, bells -
    To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

Bio of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Quotes by Edgar Allan Poe

• "Our thoughts, our souls - O God above! In every deed shall mingle, love." Edgar A. Poe, Serenade




• "You will not read the riddle, though you do the best you can do." Edgar A. Poe, A Valentine




• "While the stars, that oversprinkle all the heavens, seem to twinkle" Edgar A. Poe, The Bells




• "All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream." Edgar A. Poe, A Dream Within A Dream




• "Helen, thy beauty is to me like those Nicsean barks of yore." Edgar A. Poe, To Helen




• "For in my heart, as in thy stream, her image deeply lies." Edgar A. Poe, To The River




• "Thou wast all that to me, love. for which my soul did pine." Edgar A. Poe, To One In Paradise




• "Romance, who loves to nod and sing, with drowsy head and folded wing." Edgar A. Poe, Romance




• "And I hold within my hand grains of the golden sand" Edgar A. Poe, A Dream Within A Dream




• "Hear the sledges with the bells- silver bells!" Edgar A. Poe, The Bells




• "A dark unfathomed tide of interminable pride." Edgar A. Poe, Imitation




• "More I admire thy distant fire, than that colder, lowly light." Edgar A. Poe, Evening Star







• "The happiest day - the happiest hour my sear'd and blighted heart hath known." Edgar A. Poe, The Happiest Day

Related: Famous Quotes by Famous Poets

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Frequently Asked Questions about Edgar Allan Poe

• What is Edgar Allan Poe's most famous poem?
  Edgar Allan Poe's most famous poem is The Raven, published in 1845. The poem is renowned for its dark atmosphere, haunting refrain of  "Nevermore," and exploration of grief, loss, and madness. While, "The Raven," is not one of Poe's shorter works, it remains his best-known and most widely read poem.
  
  

  The Raven
  By Edgar Allan Poe
  
  Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
  Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore -
  While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
  As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
  ""Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door -
  Only this and nothing more." . . .
  Read the complete poem, The Raven




• What themes are common in Edgar Allan Poe's poetry?
  Common themes in Edgar Allan Poe's poetry include life and death, grief, beauty, love, and the fleeting nature of life. He frequently explored the pain of loss, the allure of dreams and the subconscious, and the tension between reality and illusion. His works often blend melancholy and beauty, creating a powerful emotional impact.




• Why does Edgar Allan Poe often write about death and sorrow?
  Poe experienced significant personal loss throughout his life, including the deaths of his parents and his young wife, Virginia. His fascination with death and sorrow in his writing reflects both his personal grief and the larger 19th-century literary tradition of Romanticism, which often dealt with themes of mortality and the mysteries of life and death.




• What writing style is Edgar Allan Poe known for in his poems?
  Edgar Allan Poe is known for his Gothic style in poetry, characterized by a dark, eerie, and melancholic atmosphere. His use of musicality, rhyme, and meter creates a haunting, lyrical quality. Poe often employs symbolism and allegory, blending elements of the supernatural, romantic ideals, and psychological depth.







• What inspired Edgar Allan Poe's poems?
  Poe's poems were inspired by personal tragedy, romantic literary trends, and his fascination with the human psyche. His early life was marked by the deaths of his parents, and his wife Virginia's illness and death deeply affected him. He was also influenced by the Romantic movement's emphasis on emotion, nature, and the sublime.

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