ulalume

Ulalume is a lyric poem by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1847 and often listed as Ulalume: A Ballad. The poem uses the name Ulalume to designate a fictional, dreamlike realm that functions as a tomblike world for mourning.

Narrative and setting: The first-person speaker travels alone through a bleak, ash-colored night, through a forest of tombs, toward the tomb of Lenore, Poe’s deceased beloved. The journey is nocturnal and ritualistic, with references to stars, night, and chthonic imagery. The poem builds toward a revelation that Ulalume is a realm or state associated with memory and grief rather than a strictly physical place.

Form and style: The work is composed in rhymed couplets in a ballad-like cadence, with ornate diction and internal rhymes that give it a musical, incantatory quality typical of Poe’s late verse.

Themes and interpretation: Ulalume contemplates loss, longing, and the inescapability of memory. Its dreamlike geography—a liminal space between waking and dreaming—has prompted varied readings, emphasizing melancholy, delirium, or ritual mourning.

Publication and legacy: Since its appearance in 1847, Ulalume has been widely anthologized and remains one of Poe’s best-known longer lyrics. It has influenced Gothic fiction and has been referenced in music and popular culture.