The poems of Edgar Allan Poe

Chapter 43: EVENING STAR

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About This Book

A curated volume of lyrical and narrative verse that repeatedly returns to themes of loss, mourning, and yearning for unattainable beauty. The poems rely on precise meter, inventive rhyme, and vivid gothic and dreamlike imagery to produce a haunting musicality. Selections range from intimate, tender lyrics to ornate, macabre narratives, alternating elegiac reflection with dramatic tableaux. An introductory essay and decorative illustrations frame the poems and connect their emotional intensity to the poet’s temperament and critical reception.

EVENING STAR

’Twas noontide of summer,

And midtime of night,

And stars, in their orbits,

Shone pale, through 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 passed, 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.