Spirits of the Dead
Thy soul shall find itself
alone
’Mid dark thoughts of the gray
tombstone—
Not one, of all the crowd, to
pry
Into thine hour of secrecy.
II
Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness—for
then
The spirits of the dead who
stood
In life before thee are
again
In death around thee—and their
will
Shall overshadow thee: be
still.
III
The night, tho’ clear, shall
frown—
And the stars shall look not
down
From their high thrones in the
heaven,
With light like Hope to
mortals given—
But their red orbs, without
beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee for
ever.
IV
Now are thoughts thou shalt
not banish,
Now are visions ne’er to
vanish;
From thy spirit shall they
pass
No more—like dew-drop from the
grass.
V
The breeze—the breath of
God—is still—
And the mist upon the hill,
Shadowy—shadowy—yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token—
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of
mysteries!
Halloween is nearing. It's the
time for costumes and candy and pumpkin themed bake sales. But not only that-
it's the time for the spooky, the creepy, and every imaginable crawly. This
time of the year can be anticipated or dreaded- especially for those who are
allergic to all things frightful. Thankfully for us AP Lit students, we are
immersed in Grendel, a book seeping with dreadful ideas. It really is perfect
timing for such a literary work; however, I was left craving something scarier
to read- something that would make the hair on my arms stand on edge and make
me wish I was seated with my back to the wall. So I searched in the romantic
works of the classic Poe. And I can’t say I was disappointed.
Edgar Allen Poe’s Poem “Spirits
of the Dead” explores the connection between life and death, describing the
afterworld in a scene that chills our bones. He depicts a lone living soul
amidst a crowd of spirits of the dead, and in the first stanza he describes the
dark state the soul is in.
Thy soul shall
find itself alone
’Mid dark thoughts
of the gray tombstone—
Not one, of all
the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of
secrecy.
Poe uses words such as “dark”
and “grey” to demonstrate the sad and gloomy thoughts that the person has as
they think about death. By depicting the person alone at a tombstone he begins
his poem in a morbid place, setting us up for the rest of the poem.
Poe then writes about the how
the spirits are in an elevated state and are among the presence of the living.
Be silent in that
solitude,
Which is not
loneliness—for then
The spirits of the
dead who stood
In life before
thee are again
In death around
thee—and their will
Shall overshadow
thee: be still.
In the second stanza, the
person is surrounded by the “spirits of the dead” whose will “shall overshadow”
his. The fact that the will of the spirits will overcome his demonstrates the
power they hold. This informs us of their superiority.
Towards the end of the poem Poe
personifies nature to create a sense of intensity that displays the discomfort that
the living must face in life. The frowning light and the stars that “shall seem
as a burning and a fever” seem very hostile. This demonstrates the hostility of
everyday life and how it can weigh down on an individual. The fever which would
“cling to thee forever” and the thoughts that will “not banish” are everlasting
pains. Since human life is so ephemeral, every discomfort can seem like an eternity.
The night, tho’
clear, shall frown—
And the stars
shall look not down
From their high
thrones in the heaven,
With light like
Hope to mortals given—
But their red
orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness
shall seem
As a burning and a
fever
Which would cling
to thee for ever.
Now are thoughts thou shalt
not banish,
Now are visions
ne’er to vanish;
From thy spirit
shall they pass
No more—like
dew-drop from the grass.
In
the last stanza Poe uses mist to show the veil between this world and the next
and how as long as the veil exists, the next world will be a mystery to the
living.
The breeze—the
breath of God—is still—
And the mist upon
the hill,
Shadowy—shadowy—yet
unbroken,
Is a symbol and a
token—
How it hangs upon
the trees,
A mystery of mysteries!
The troubles of this life can not compare with the stillness present in the next. As the soul sits next to that tombstone, surrounded by the crowd of spirits and tortured by the discomfort of life, it sees the most as a promise of the clarity and peace that must surely exist in the afterlife.
Although this poem was deep and thoughtful rather than chilling, it still had that edge of gloom and darkness that Poe never seems to fail to bring.
