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Bridal Ballad by Edgar Allan Poe

Analysis

This poem was first published under the name "Ballad" in the January 1837 edition of the Southern Literary Messenger. It wasn't retitled as "Bridal Ballad" until it was reprinted in the Saturday Evening Post in July 31, 1841. This poem is about a marriage between a woman and a Lord. The Lord dies and she gains control of everything. Thus, she is happy now.

This poem is written in the voice of a recently-married bride. It has been ridiculed as having forced rhyme with the name "D'Elormie". It consists of five stanzas.

Poem

Bridal Ballad
By 

 The ring is on my hand,
   And the wreath is on my brow;
Satin and jewels grand
Are all at my command,
   And I am happy now.

And my lord he loves me well;
   But, when first he breathed his vow,
I felt my bosom swell-
For the words rang as a knell,
And the voice seemed his who fell
In the battle down the dell,
   And who is happy now.

But he spoke to re-assure me,
   And he kissed my pallid brow,
While a reverie came o'er me,
And to the church-yard bore me,
And I sighed to him before me,
Thinking him dead D'Elormie,
"Oh, I am happy now!"

And thus the words were spoken,
   And this the plighted vow,
And, though my faith be broken,
And, though my heart be broken,
Here is a ring, as token
   That I am happy now!

Would God I could awaken!
   For I dream I know not how!
And my soul is sorely shaken
Lest an evil step be taken,-
Lest the dead who is forsaken
   May not be happy now.

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Nationality
American

Literary Movement
Romanticism, 19th Century

Subjects
Ballad, Wife, Dream, God, Marriage