Ky’s Top 5 Edgar Allan Poe Poems
Recently during one of my live shows on TikTok, we did a night fully dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe and his poetry. Ever since I was in high school, Poe quickly became one of my favorite poets of all time and today, I am happy to share my Top 5 Favorite Edgar Allan Poe poems!
ABOUT EDGAR ALLAN POE
Edgar Allan Poe is arguably one of the most influential American writers of all time. Widely known for his dark romanticism and quite often used death and a descent into madness as the backdrops to his writings.
CLICK HERE to read more about Edgar Allan Poe and the life that inspired his most famous works.
So let’s take a look at my personal Top 5 Favorite Edgar Allan Poe poems!
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#5 – THE CITY IN THE SEA
Published: 1845
This poem has gone through many different iterations, but this final version stands out to me because of it’s brilliant portrayal of a city ruled by a “personification of death”. To me, this is one of Poe’s greatest poems from early in his career as a writer.
Lo! Death has reared himself a throne
In a strange city lying alone
Far down within the dim West,
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best
Have gone to their eternal rest.
There shrines and palaces and towers
(Time-eaten towers that tremble not!)
Resemble nothing that is ours.
Around, by lifting winds forgot,
Resignedly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie…
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#4 – THE BELLS
Published: 1849
As you read this poem, notice how Poe uses the word “bells” here. It’s so gorgeous to read to yourself, let alone out loud. It’s like reading a musical. Poe takes full advantage of his onomatopoeia and alliteration skills in this poem, and there’s nothing else like it. This poem takes us through four different journeys, with each of the four stanzas representing a specific portion of the human life cycle.
HEAR the sledges with the bells —
Silver bells !
What a world of merriment their melody foretells !
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night !
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle…
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#3 – THE HAUNTED PALACE
This might be one of Poe’s most popular poems, at least in my opinion. What I love about this poem is how he so brilliantly portrays a descent into insanity. As you read, you’ll notice how it begins with a home that is beautiful and pristine, and ends in darkness. It showcases how the mind can easily decay into darkness when surrounded by a negative mindset. If anything in this poem sounds familar, it’s because this poem was incorporated into Poe’s insanely popular short story: “The Fall of the House of Usher”.
In the greenest of our valleys
By good angels tenanted,
Once a fair and stately palace—
Radiant palace—reared its head.In the monarch Thought’s dominion,
It stood there!
Never seraph spread a pinion
Over fabric half so fair!
Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
On its roof did float and flow
(This—all this—was in the olden
Time long ago)
And every gentle air that dallied,
In that sweet day,
Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,
A wingèd odor went away…
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#2 – ANABEL LEE
This poem would probably be my number one if it wasn’t for the cliche love for the actual #1 on this list. This has a special place in many people’s hearts because it was the last complete poem Poe ever published in 1849 (two days after he died). This poem follows the narrator as he recounts his unmatched love for “Anabel Lee”, who died because the angels were envious of their love for each other. This poem is so hauntingly beautiful, and is easily in my top 10 poems of all time by any artist. It is said that this poem was written by Poe as remembrance of his wife, Virginia, who had died a couple years before this was published.
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me…
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#1 – THE RAVEN
It’s so cliche to have this as my number one, because this is probably EVERYONE’S favorite Poe poem, but that doesn’t diminish the fact as to how great this poem really is. It’s epic, yet so intimate at the same time, and very few authors have been able to mimic the styling of this poem.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Nameless here for evermore.
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Good Vibes,
Ky
About The Author: Kyrus Keenan Westcott is a Motivational Influencer based in Philadelphia and New Jersey. Since 2018, Kyrus has dedicated his life to spreading good vibes and positive energy, hoping that he could make as many people smile as possible. Kyrus currently shares his marketing insight, positive energy, and amusement park insight on his official blog: The Vibe With Ky. Follow Kyrus on Instagram and Twitter @TheVibeWithKy.
