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Lenore

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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1833

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About the author

Edgar Allan Poe

9,887 books28.6k followers
The name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.

Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.

The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...

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5 stars
307 (35%)
4 stars
282 (33%)
3 stars
208 (24%)
2 stars
43 (5%)
1 star
13 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
484 reviews107 followers
March 8, 2022
This is a great, pretty, tragic poem by Poe.
3,480 reviews46 followers
October 28, 2020
4.5 Stars rounded up to 5 Stars.
This poem was revised 8 times during Poe's lifetime. The final form was published in 1845. "In the poem Guy De Vere, Lenore's grieving lover, fails to weep when he looks at her beautiful form lying on the funeral bier; yet the conflicting views that he expresses about her death as he rants throughout the poem show his deep devotion to her. De Vere accuses Lenore's family and friends of treating her in a cold and unfeeling manner while she was alive . . ." Sova, Dawn B. (2001). Edgar Allan Poe, A to Z : the essential reference to his life and work. New York: Checkmark Books. (139) This poem masterfully showcases one of Poe's favorite topics for his poetry that of the death of a young beautiful woman.
Profile Image for Minne.
210 reviews237 followers
November 3, 2015
Now this was absolutely beautiful. The narrator in this poem glorifies death. He is assured of the tranquility of it, and he is convinced that Lenore as beautiful and as young (too young to have died naturally, the narrator implied) as she was is moving on to something--or someplace better. Leaving behind the treachery and hypocrisy of the mortal world and it's prisoners.

He even proclaims her death as an occasion for merriment and praise.

" Avaunt! tonight my heart is light. No dirge will i upraise,
But waft the angel on her flight with a paean of the old days!"

It's intriguing how the narrator perceives death. But then again, is his demeanor a generality or is it just limited to the person of Lenore who was ordained too good for earth?
Profile Image for Jiji.
51 reviews8 followers
February 27, 2025
Review otw.... (This is the lore bomb in The Raven) [if you saw this in my to be written Annabel Lee review, you didn't. ... I logged the wrong poem.]
Profile Image for John Yelverton.
4,432 reviews38 followers
May 31, 2017
It's a really well done poem about a man whose Lenore has died, and he finds contempt for all who pretend to mourn her passing.
Profile Image for Brian.
297 reviews4 followers
June 5, 2018
Kind of like melancholy splendor.
Profile Image for Siobhan.
5,026 reviews599 followers
November 4, 2020
Lenore is another of Poe’s poems that had me debating my rating, another three-point-five-star read that I rounded down. As is the case with most of Poe’s work, this was an easy to read poem that has you hooked throughout. It flows well, it keeps you hooked throughout, but I would not label it my favourite from the author. It’s certainly worth the read for fans of the author’s poetry, though.
Profile Image for Jinx:The:Poet {the LiteraryWanderer & WordRoamer}.
710 reviews237 followers
October 2, 2019
"Lenore"
By Edgar Allan Poe


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 nevermore!
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 debonair, 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! avaunt! 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!
Let no bell toll, then,- lest her soul, amid its hallowed mirth,
Should catch the note as it doth float up from the damned Earth!
And I!- to-night my heart is light!- no dirge will I upraise,
But waft the angel on her flight with a Paean of old days!"
Profile Image for francesca .
18 reviews
May 15, 2023
ormai leggo le sue poesie in pullman al mattino, è diventata una routine, ho amato questa parte
"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!"
in qualche modo, forse la melodia di quando viene letto o altro che adesso non so, fatto sta che ho aprezzato questa poesia.
ho messo 4 stelle perché nella versione italiana che ho letto c'erano delle mancanze di sonorità che si sono perse nella traduzione.
il mio parere sarebbe di 4,8 però non si può metterlo.
Profile Image for Tiny Mendoza.
234 reviews85 followers
April 30, 2013
First published as "A Pæan" in 1831 and was later revised to "Lenore" in 1843, the story is about the death of a lovely young woman.
I know, shock. I think the author's works that contain the death of a "beautiful woman" are Annabel Lee, The Raven and Lenore. Based on my understanding (correct me if I'm wrong), the girl that was mentioned here was hated by her friends and was falsely liked and loved. Plastik lang ang peg. Nevertheless, this is one of my favorite Poe pieces.
Profile Image for Emily.
821 reviews43 followers
December 22, 2013
This is another poem that shows how Poe struggled with the deaths of many women in his life.
11 reviews
September 27, 2022
Beautiful poem, which is to be expected by Edgar Allan Poe.
I am never unsatisfied by his works.
Profile Image for Sarra Ouali.
57 reviews32 followers
April 22, 2020
"… Avaunt! tonight my heart is light. No dirge will i upraise,
But waft the angel on her flight with a paean of the old days!..."
Profile Image for J.
3,897 reviews34 followers
July 30, 2024
Received this as part of a starter pack of short stories, which can be found on the author's FB page.

Never having been a Poe fan, I was thinking this short would be right up my sister's alley as she is. But either way, though, I chose to read it out of curiosity.

Unfortunately, the book does nothing to credit the original author of the piece besides his brief mention in the description, and I truly find this egregious when considering this "re-imagining" named Lenore.

Why, though?

The majority of the text is openly taken from Poe's original work The Raven, with the author attempting to make his own take more modern and to modernize some of the language even though the thought it is meant to pass onto the reader is one and the same again as the original. His attempts to modernize the text basically fails by the end where the poem just is the original with the small nod to Eric's own actual major change. And thus the author should openly acknowledge, in my opinion, Poe who is the main contributing author to this piece.

At the same time the book isn't a horror as the cover suggests but part of the Gothic genre and again that is only since it clings so openly to Poe's own original piece that it cannot break away to be its own freestanding work.

For those who like Poe and the more modern retellings, this short poem may be something that they may enjoy a lot more than I did.
Profile Image for Eduard Gafton.
413 reviews55 followers
September 5, 2014
Read as part of the volume Edgar Allan Poe Complete Tales and Poems.



The life upon her yellow hair, but now within her eyes -
The life still there upon her hair, the death upon her eyes.
Profile Image for Nina.
669 reviews17 followers
July 28, 2014
Technically I've read all the Poe I have to read to complete my course, but The Raven got me curious - so I had to read Lenore as well. Another masterpiece by Edgar Allan Poe.
Profile Image for Claire Orion.
Author 11 books33 followers
August 21, 2015
Es bello, y sublime (con énfasis en su REAL definición). <3
Profile Image for Claudia.
335 reviews34 followers
July 30, 2016
I have two words of this: ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING!! Read it. And I can write no more. Otherwise, I'll write more than this absolutely marvellous short story. Read it!!! :) xx
Profile Image for Lnaz.
80 reviews
September 1, 2016
"hast thou no tear?--weep now or never more!"
Profile Image for K. Anna Kraft.
1,175 reviews38 followers
August 10, 2019
I have arranged my takeaway thoughts into a haiku:

"The mad drunk would blush
To hear the accusations
That anguish lets loose. "
Profile Image for Mariana.
367 reviews54 followers
March 6, 2021
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJTlVhNj2DQ/

“Lenora” uma adaptação do poema “Lenore”de Edgar Allan Poe por Juliana Fiorese com tradução do poema para a língua portuguesa por Pedro Mohallem é uma HQ belamente ilustrada e ainda conta com um texto do tradutor e um da própria Juliana Fiorese compartilhando como foi o processo criativo.⁣

A HQ tomou forma depois do apoio recebido no Catarse, soube recentemente de sua existência e consegui adquirir meu exemplar no site da @julianafiorese

Eu fiz a leitura do poema completo em voz alta antes de ler a HQ, depois me joguei nas imagens e foi uma experiência maravilhosa, a artista conseguiu colocar nos traços e no uso das cores toda atmosfera e sentimento que as palavras de Poe tinham despertado em mim, a riqueza de detalhes nas expressões de Guy muda de acordo com a cadência das palavras e ele está completamente transformado ao final da história, mas sem perder nenhuma de suas características principais. ⁣

É impressionante ver como detalhes fazem toda a diferença.⁣

Um ponto MUITO importante é que ao final temos o poema completo em português e no idioma original. Gostei muito de ler o texto do tradutor e das escolhas feitas por ele.⁣

Esse vai ser um daqueles livros de poemas que vai me acompanhar por muitos anos, vai ser relido e apreciado incontáveis vezes. Também é um excelente livro para dar de presente.
Profile Image for Amelia Bujar.
1,795 reviews1 follower
May 12, 2024
FULL REVIEW ON MY WEBSITE
https://thebookcornerchronicles.com/2...

As you can expect this poem is about the sorrow of losing the beloved ones which is pretty much a typical Edgar Allan Poe thing. However this poem is also about the consolation of believing that they left to better place.

The writing style was okay for the most part, however I personally were missing the gothic and dark vibe to it.

This poem was also kind of like melancholy splendour. Or at least it give that kind of impression when I read it.

This poem is also good to show how Edgar Allan Poe have struggled with the deaths of many women in his life.
Profile Image for Sean Harding.
5,756 reviews34 followers
January 9, 2021
This is poem number #18*** since I began the Poe-athon a few days back, and this again is a beautiful and moving poem.
He does evoke emotion in you, even in these short works.
There is still a stack of Poe to go, so the Poe-athon will be on for a while!





*** It would be so much easier to see this information if Goodreads would restore most read authors.
Just another observation on how you should listen to your customer base and restore a useful tool instead of removing it without good reason.
Profile Image for Karlie B.
75 reviews6 followers
May 4, 2025
well that was a lot shorter than Goodreads said it would be (it is not a story, it's a poem. one of his shorter poems, too!) Less clear vernacular than others of his poems, likely a cause of its lessened popularity compared to its sister works. I was hoping this would feel like a secondary or precursor to the raven, and in some respects, I could see that, however if you'd like to read this as a standalone, that would work, too.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews

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