Israfel, Edgar Allan Poe: Summary, Analysis & Themes
"Israfel" was written while Edgar Allan Poe was at West Point and was first published in April 1831 in Poems of Edgar A. Poe . The poem was later revised and republished in the August 1836 issue of The Southern Literary Messenger . Poe introduces Israfel as an angel from the Koran, renowned for having the sweetest voice and a heart that is a lute. The poem explores themes of divine versus mortal music, and Poe's friend Thomas Holley Chivers and biographer Hervey Allen have noted its significance in reflecting Poe's ideal of poetry and its own artistic qualities.
"Israfel" Poem Text by Edgar Allan Poe In Heaven a spirit doth dwell
“Whose heart-strings are a lute”;
None sing so wildly well
As the angel Israfel,
And the giddy stars (so legends tell),
Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell
Of his voice, all mute.
Tottering above
In her highest noon,
The enamored moon
Blushes with love,
While, to listen, the red levin
(With the rapid Pleiads, even,
Which were seven,…