Come! let the burial rite be read—the funeral song be sung!—
An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young—
A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young.

These lines (lines 5–7) come from the opening stanza, where the chorus calls for Guy de Vere to authorize the performance of funerary rites for Lenore. The chorus underscores the particular importance of such rites in this case, to acknowledge Lenore’s premature death. They make this point powerfully in the final line of passage quoted above. There, the chorus claims that Lenore’s early demise counts as a kind of double death—that is, a death that, because untimely, is doubly tragic and deserving of an especially melancholy funeral dirge. Poe uses alliteration to great effect in this line, peppered as it is with four words beginning with the letter D. These D-words fashion a thematic link in the poem between death and the funeral dirge, which is a type of slow, sad song sung to lament the loss of life. It’s also worth noting that the three lines quoted here make up the poem’s first tercet. Each stanza ends with three rhymed lines. Here, Poe uses what’s known as an identical rhyme, which refers to instances where a word rhymes with itself. The repeated use of “young” at the end of the second and third lines further emphasizes the special tragedy of Lenore’s premature death.

“How shall the ritual, then be read?—the requiem how be sung
“By you—by yours, the evil eye,—by yours, the slanderous tongue
“That did to death the innocent that died, and died so young?”

Guy de Vere addresses these bitter words to the chorus at the end of the second stanza (lines 10–12). Just prior to saying these lines, Guy de Vere lashed out at the chorus for the way they behaved toward Lenore during her life. The chorus, he claims, “loved her for her wealth and hated her for her pride” (line 8). He then follows with these lines, where he explicitly blames the chorus for Lenore’s death, declaring that they cursed her with their “evil eye” and “slanderous tongue.” We readers can’t know for sure if Guy de Vere’s words have any merit. However, it seems likely that his outburst may stem from the emotional turmoil caused by his unprocessed grief for Lenore. Immediately following these lines, the chorus responds to Guy de Vere’s harsh words by acknowledging that they may not have treated Lenore as well as she deserved. They express this sentiment with the Latin word “peccavimus” (line 13), which means, “We have sinned.” But whereas the chorus acknowledges Guy de Vere’s point, the bereaved man refuses to acknowledge the chorus’s earnest attempts to help him move through his grief.

“Avaunt! to-night my heart is light. No dirge will I upraise,
“But waft the angel on her flight with a Pæan of old days!
“Let no bell toll!—lest her sweet soul, amid its hallowed mirth,
“Should catch the note, as it doth float up from the damnéd Earth.”

These lines (lines 20–23) open the final stanza, where Guy de Vere repeats his refusal to have solemn funerary rites performed for Lenore. What’s perhaps most notable about these lines is the shift in Guy de Vere’s tone from his earlier speech. In the second stanza, he addressed the chorus with bitterness and contempt, accusing them of having killed his fiancée. In surprising contrast to that outburst, Guy de Vere opens this speech by insisting on his good mood: “Avaunt! to-night my heart is light.” In connection with this newly lightened mood, he rejects the chorus’s suggestion about performing a funeral dirge for Lenore. He implies that such a song would be far too sad. In its stead, a celebratory song known as a paean (PEE-enn) should be performed, the jubilance of which would help “waft the angel on her flight” up from “the damnéd Earth” and toward the highest Heaven. Guy de Vere’s insistence on maintaining a happy mood rather than a mournful one gives some credence to the chorus’s concern, earlier in the poem, that the bereaved had not yet properly grieved: “Guy de vere, hast thou no tear?—weep now or never more!” (line 3).

Take a Study Break