This week's Poe Friday assignment is the poem, Leonore. If you are not familiar with it, you can read the full text here.
In fine Poe tradition, we find another beautiful young women who has died before her time. The stanzas alternate between a mourner, who is chastising Leonore's fiance' for not appearing sad enough, and the fiance', who accuses the mourner of only caring for Leonore because he hoped to get something from her.
In Leonore, Poe once again uses his words to wonderful effect, giving the reader both internal rhyme and end rhyme. I love the cadence his poetry always has - it is literally meant to be read aloud. It seems Poe writes frequently about the idealized young woman, usually meeting her untimely demise. I think this poem was written before Poe's wife died, so it is interesting that he seemed almost to have some sort of premonition about what would happen to his own love.
Next week we will be reading the very short story, The Sphinx. Poe Fridays is hosted by Kristen at WeBeReading.
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