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– passion; a longing for solitude – a scorn of all things present in an earnest desire for the future«. Han var ingen Handlingens Mand og ingen Elsker. Allerede i et af sine første ungdommelige byroniske Digte skrev han disse Linjer:
I could not love except where Death
was mingling his with Beauty’s breath –
or Hymen, Time and Destiny
were stalking between her and me.
was mingling his with Beauty’s breath –
or Hymen, Time and Destiny
were stalking between her and me.
Og i The Raven, i Annabell Lee, i To Helen i Ulalume, disse hans lyriske Mesterværker, er det alene en Drøm, der har fremkaldt de passionerede erotiske Udbrud. Lenore – Helen – Annie, disse aandeagtigt skære og usanselige Kvinder er Skyer, som favnes af hans uendelige, genstandsløse Savn.
For dette Savn og dets fortærende Kummer har han skabt det store Symbol i Ravnen, der med sit monotone Never-more aldrig viger fra den ulykkelige Drømmers Side:
– the Raven never flitting
still is sitting, still is sitting
on the pallid bust of Pallas
just above my chamber door;
and his eyes have all the seeming
of a demon’s that is dreaming,
still is sitting, still is sitting
on the pallid bust of Pallas
just above my chamber door;
and his eyes have all the seeming
of a demon’s that is dreaming,
