Comparing Ligeia 'And The Fall Of The House Of Usher'
Poe’s “Annabel Lee,” “Ligeia,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”
In Poe’s “Annabel Lee,” the poet depicts his beloved as a woman who lived only for love. “And this maiden she lived with no other thought/Than to love and be loved by me.” The gender representation of a female whose only role in life is that of a male’s companion was prominent in 19th century literature but is definitely not reflective of our experiences in the 21st century. In “Annabel Lee,” whether Poe personally felt this way or not, he paints a woman as shallow, childlike, and easily breakable. Another example from the poem that shows her fragility is “A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling my beautiful Annabel Lee…chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.” Poe worships …show more content…
Her eyes, specifically, capture him. “…subsequently to the period when Ligeia’s beauty passed in to my spirit, there dwelling as in a shrine, I derived from many existences in the material world, a sentiment, such as I felt always aroused within me by her large and luminous orbs.” He goes on to see her eyes in the “commonest objects of the universe,” such as a butterfly, a stream of water, the ocean, and the falling of a meteor. (Is she real or a goddess?) The narrator says, “I have spoken of the learning of Ligeia: it was immense – such as I have never known in a woman.” This woman shocks him that she is not the normal one-dimensional ignorant female, as females were often portrayed in 19th century American literature. As in most cases with Poe, she eventually dies, and he marries again. He cannot idolize the new wife, Rowena, though, and he becomes an opium addict to forget Ligeia. When Rowena dies, he is still thinking of Ligeia, and when he finds that Rowena is not really dead, and she emerges from her coffin, he sees that she has transformed into Ligeia. Here, again, Poe worships the ideal woman, always dead and always angelic. This recurrent obsession is not a reflection of modern experience in male/female relationships. In the modern world, we take a more practical earthly approach to romantic relationships.
In Poe’s “Annabel Lee,” the poet depicts his beloved as a woman who lived only for love. “And this maiden she lived with no other thought/Than to love and be loved by me.” The gender representation of a female whose only role in life is that of a male’s companion was prominent in 19th century literature but is definitely not reflective of our experiences in the 21st century. In “Annabel Lee,” whether Poe personally felt this way or not, he paints a woman as shallow, childlike, and easily breakable. Another example from the poem that shows her fragility is “A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling my beautiful Annabel Lee…chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.” Poe worships …show more content…
Her eyes, specifically, capture him. “…subsequently to the period when Ligeia’s beauty passed in to my spirit, there dwelling as in a shrine, I derived from many existences in the material world, a sentiment, such as I felt always aroused within me by her large and luminous orbs.” He goes on to see her eyes in the “commonest objects of the universe,” such as a butterfly, a stream of water, the ocean, and the falling of a meteor. (Is she real or a goddess?) The narrator says, “I have spoken of the learning of Ligeia: it was immense – such as I have never known in a woman.” This woman shocks him that she is not the normal one-dimensional ignorant female, as females were often portrayed in 19th century American literature. As in most cases with Poe, she eventually dies, and he marries again. He cannot idolize the new wife, Rowena, though, and he becomes an opium addict to forget Ligeia. When Rowena dies, he is still thinking of Ligeia, and when he finds that Rowena is not really dead, and she emerges from her coffin, he sees that she has transformed into Ligeia. Here, again, Poe worships the ideal woman, always dead and always angelic. This recurrent obsession is not a reflection of modern experience in male/female relationships. In the modern world, we take a more practical earthly approach to romantic relationships.