My poetry anthology

Oh,Oh you will be sorry for that word!
Give back my book and take my kiss instead.
Was it my enemy or my friend I heard,
"what a big book for such a little head!"
Come, I will show you now my newest hat,
And you may watch me purse my mouth and prink!

Oh I shall love you still, and all of that.
I never again shall tell you what I think.

I shall be sweet and crafty, soft and sly;
You will not catch me reading any more:
I shall be called a wife to pattern by;
And some day when you knock and push the door,
Some sane day, not too bright and not too stormy,
I shall be gone, and you may whistle for me.                         

( Edna St. Vicent Millay)

Annie Tantor

I chose this poem because I love the way in wich the author mocks the conventions of patriarchal society from a female point of view. In fact, the theme is the role of the woman in society.Not so far from now, we were expected to marry, raise children, cook, clean the house, wash dishes and make beds, and that was that.
I found the fact that we don't know if the character is just thinking or actually saying those words, very interesting, because we are not able to describe her. We ignore if she is a brave woman or just submisive with rebelious thoughts.
I like also her standpoint : she is not going to change, just pretend so that his husband is satisfied.

This poem reminded me of a humorist that I love: Annie Tantor. If you liked this poem you will love her sense of humor for sure !

Annabel Lee 

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 winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea. 

(Edgar Allan Poe. 1809-1849)

This image ilustrates the poem. Don't miss the envious angels on either side of it! (although they don't seem so mean)

Leonore

   Ah, broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever!
   Let the bell toll!- a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river;
   And, Guy de Vere, hast thou no tear?- weep now or nevermore!
   See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore!
   Come! let the burial rite be read- the funeral song be sung!-
   An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young-
   A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young.

   "Wretches! ye loved her for her wealth and hated her for her pride,
   And when she fell in feeble health, ye blessed her- that she died!
   How shall the ritual, then, be read?- the requiem how be sung
   By you- by yours, the evil eye,- by yours, the slanderous tongue
   That did to death the innocence that died, and died so young?" 

   Peccavimus; but rave not thus! and let a Sabbath song
   Go up to God so solemnly the dead may feel no wrong.
   The sweet Lenore hath "gone before," with Hope, that flew beside,
   Leaving thee wild for the dear child that should have been thy
   bride.
   For her, the fair and debonair, that now so lowly lies,
   The life upon her yellow hair but not within her eyes
   The life still there, upon her hair- the death upon her eyes.

   "Avaunt! avaunt! from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven-
   From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven-
   From grief and groan, to a golden throne, beside the King of 

   Heaven!
   Let no bell toll, then,- lest her soul, amid its hallowed mirth,
   Should catch the note as it doth float up from the damned Earth!
   And I!- to-night my heart is light!- no dirge will I upraise,
   But waft the angel on her flight with a Paean of old days!"

(Edgar Allan Poe. 1809-1849)

I've chosen Annabel Lee together with Leonore because they are very similar in theme: the death of a young lady and a love that goes beyond that death.Their deaths are seen through the eyes of their living lovers who blame somebody or something else for their young ladys' death. In Annabel Lee the narrator claims that the angels were so jelous of their love that they killed her. In Leonore (in the 2nd Stanza corresponding to de Vere), Guy de Vere claims that mourners shed false tears for Lenore, that in fact they are blamed for her death. 

Poe's use of the name "Lenore" sets a precedent for the melancholy "L" and "O" sounds that dominate the poem's four stanzas. In the case of "Annabel Lee" the use of this final long vowel sound helps the atmosphere of the poem which celebrates and mourns the eternal love of two children.

*The images I've chosen portray the different poems.