Edgar Poe's video: Edgar Allan Poe Volume 5 Section 32: Bridal Ballad

Edgar Allan Poe, Volume 5, Section 32: Bridal Ballad First published simply as "Ballad" in the January 1837 edition of the Southern Literary Messenger, it was later retitled as "Bridal Ballad" when it was printed in the July 31, 1841 edition of the Saturday Evening Post. The poem is unusual for Poe because it is written in the voice of a woman, specifically a recently married bride. Despite her reassurances that she is "happy," the poem has a somber tone as it recounts a previous love who has died. In marrying, she has broken her vow to this previous lover to love him eternally. Poe biographer Daniel Hoffman says that "Bridal Ballad" is guilty of "one of the most unfortunate rhymes in American poetry this side of Thomas Holley Chivers." He is referring to the name of the bride's dead lover, "D'Elormie," which he calls "patently a forced rhyme" for "o'er me" and "before me" in the previous lines Aldous Huxley made the same observation, calling the rhyme "ludicrous" and "horribly vulgar." The poem is one of the few works by Poe to be written in the voice of a woman. See also the humorous tale "A Predicament." BRIDAL BALLAD. The ring is on my hand, And the wreath is on my brow; Satins and jewels grand Are all at my command, And I am happy now. And my lord he loves me well; But, when first he breathed his vow I felt my bosom swell— For the words rang as a knell, And the voice seemed his who fell In the battle down the dell, And who is happy now. But he spoke to re-assure me, And he kissed my pallid brow While a reverie came o'er me, And to the church-yard bore me, And I sighed to him before me, Thinking him dead D'Elormie, "Oh, I am happy now!" And thus the words were spoken, And this the plighted vow, And, though my faith be broken, And, though my heart be broken Behold the golden token That proves me happy now! Would God I could awaken! For I dream I know not now, And my soul is sorely shaken Lest an evil step be taken,— Lest the dead who is forsaken May not be happy now.