Creative Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's Poem - To One Departed

Seraph! thy memory is to me
Like some enchanted far-off isle
In some tumultuous sea--
Some ocean vexed as it may be
With storms; but where, meanwhile,
Serenest skies continually
Just o'er that one bright island smile.

 

For 'mid the earnest cares and woes
That crowd around my earthly path,
(Sad path, alas, where grows
Not even one lonely rose!)
My soul at least a solace hath
In dreams of thee; and therein knows
An Eden of bland repose.

In this poem, Poe tries to bring out his feelings of lonliness and being not able to move on by creating an imagery of an island in between a turbulent sea; fighting the storms. In my opinion, he uses metaphors like "seraph" to signify the memory of his beloved that is taking his life away from him even while is breathing and yet "alive". Also metaphors like "enchanted isle" could signify his state of mind of being lonely while "tumultuous sea" signifies the memories of his loved one waging a battle on him which he is fighting within himself. The juxtaposed imagery of the "serenest skies" and "one bright island smile" show that amidst his grief and loneliness he also reminisces about the happier memories, which are keeping him alive.

Poe then goes on to wish that he was not trapped on earth with all his sorrows and woes. He seems to have lost the will to live as loneliness and problems seem to suffocate him, crowding around his life. He describes his life or his "Earthly path" as a sad, lonely pathway with no happiness and no love, which is evident by the line "not even a lonely rose". This may mean that the poet has lost a loved one and that is whose memories he refers to. He wishes for his soul to be at peace, to feel calmness engulf him for a change, and for his soul to be loast in the soothing dreams of his beloved. The last line says "An Eden of bland repose". Since Eden is a place of pleasure or solitude and repose means calmness, he wishes to pass away and unite with his loved one in a calm and happy place and to be free from all ties and connections of the earth.

A Lonely Star by Utsav Bhat

Like a lonely star in sky,

On which you had once set your eye.

You gazed at me and made a wish,

And that’s when I turned to debris.

I tumbled like a shooting star

They said it was beautiful but it felt not so.

The skies were withered and clawed my skin

But I reminisced how long it had been.

Oh! It’s been long and a vexing brawl;

Fighting enemies you cannot see.

The shadows of loneliness like coyotes,

Gnawing at not flesh, but my feeble soul.

I thank those eyes that wished upon me.

I lived my life till the memories

Failed me and then I lost the smile.

How tranquil would our reunion be.  

This poem is written keeping in mind the emotions reflected in “To One Departed” that Poe was undergoing at the time he wrote the poem. In this Poem, the lonely star personifies Poe who had been living alone after his beloved wife’s death. He had no family left to call his own since his parents had also expired when he was only three years of age. The words “lonely star” represents Poe as he has represented himself in his poem – “island”.

In the first stanza, Poe i.e. the star is lonely and alone in the vastness of the sky not because there aren’t many stars around he but because there are none he can call his own. Once, while he is living his life of solitude he notices a pair of eyes gazing at him from the earth and very unlikely, wishing on him. The thought running through the star's mind here is “Why is she wishing on me when I am still alive?” And co- incidentally when the eyes wish upon him, he turns into a shooting star and is falling from the face of the sky, about to turn into debris.

The second stanza describes what the star is feeling physically while falling. I have referred to the star as tumbling because his fall was less of fate and more of an accident. When the star is still falling through the vast sky, appearing as a shooting star to many, he hears and sees a million eyes wishing upon him and calling the view “beautiful”. The star here begs to differ since he describes the sky to be withered and his fall to be a rough one. This is signified in the line “The skies were withered and clawed my skin”. The star here feels physical pain after a long time and compares this pain to the pain he had been undergoing due to his loneliness while he was still alive and a part of the sky. He finds very little difference in the two and reminisces how long it had been since he has been living that pain.

The third stanza highlights not the physical but the intangible aspects of his pain while he was still alive. The star reminisces how long he had been lonely and how his journey was not only filled with the agony of solitude but also how it was a confusing struggle every day. He refers to solitude as his enemy and tells us how difficult it was for him to fight an enemy he could not even see. And before he knew it, the vices of solitude started feeding on his soul which had grown weak from fighting the endless battles. Here the word “coyotes” is used as a metaphor signifying the gruesome enemy – solitude, that even though did not cause him physical pain but immense emotional and spiritual agony.

In the last stanza, the star realizes that he had “died” a long time back when he had forgotten to smile after the memories of his beloved had failed him. He thus, thanks those eyes that wished upon him and caused the accident since now he is free from the “worldly pleasures” or “the earthly path” and is at peace because he is one step closer to being reunited to his past and memories i.e. his love.

Both the poems depict Poe’s struggle with his loneliness. Also, both the poems bring out his emotions and true feelings by using the help of metaphors. In both the poems, Poe finds himself difficult to let go of the past and also put forward his thoughts as to how the only thing that brought joy into his life were the memories of his beloved.  It is important to note that at the climax of both the poems, Poe expresses his wish to do away with the “earthly path” and reunite with his beloved forever.