Song, Edgar Allan Poe: Summary, Analysis & Themes
"Song" is a ballad-style poem by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in his early collection Tamerlane and Other Poems in 1827. In this poem, the speaker recounts a memory of seeing a former lover on her wedding day. Despite the joy surrounding her, a blush on her cheek reveals a hidden sense of shame for having lost the speaker's love. The poem is often linked to Poe's own lost love, Sarah Elmira Royster, who married another man, though Poe was not present at her wedding. The poem uses poetic license to express the speaker's feelings of loss and unfulfilled love.
"Song" Poem Text by Edgar Allan Poe
I saw thee on thy bridal day—
When a burning blush came o’er thee,
Though happiness around thee lay,
The world all love before thee:
And in thine eye a kindling light
(Whatever it might be)
Was all on Earth my aching sight
Of Loveliness could see.
That blush, perhaps, was maiden shame—
As such it well may pass—
Though its glow hath raised a fiercer flame
In th…