Fairy-Land Poem by Edgar Allan Poe

Fairy-Land

Rating: 3.5


Dim vales- and shadowy floods-
And cloudy-looking woods,
Whose forms we can't discover
For the tears that drip all over!
Huge moons there wax and wane-
Again- again- again-
Every moment of the night-
Forever changing places-
And they put out the star-light
With the breath from their pale faces.
About twelve by the moon-dial,
One more filmy than the rest
(A kind which, upon trial,
They have found to be the best)
Comes down- still down- and down,
With its centre on the crown
Of a mountain's eminence,
While its wide circumference
In easy drapery falls
Over hamlets, over halls,
Wherever they may be-
O'er the strange woods- o'er the sea-
Over spirits on the wing-
Over every drowsy thing-
And buries them up quite
In a labyrinth of light-
And then, how deep!- O, deep!
Is the passion of their sleep.
In the morning they arise,
And their moony covering
Is soaring in the skies,
With the tempests as they toss,
Like- almost anything-
Or a yellow Albatross.
They use that moon no more
For the same end as before-
Videlicet, a tent-
Which I think extravagant:
Its atomies, however,
Into a shower dissever,
Of which those butterflies
Of Earth, who seek the skies,
And so come down again,
(Never-contented things!)
Have brought a specimen
Upon their quivering wings.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Tess Bybee 27 January 2009

Seriously if Edgar Allan Poe was alive, I would just give him a big hug right now for writing this. He's so great.

34 13 Reply
Fae Sebastian 07 May 2010

I absolutely love this poem. It's actually my second favorite, beaten only by Dreamland

26 18 Reply
* Sunprincess * 27 November 2013

beautiful imagery...

12 6 Reply
Kim Barney 24 May 2015

Wonderful imagery in this poem. He used a word unfamiliar to me (Videlicet) which I will now look up and discover the meaning. Learn something new on this website every day! I hope the butterflies he mentions here are not the same species as in my poem BUTTERFLY OF DEATH!

9 3 Reply
Mark Arvizu 24 October 2014

Man loved the moon and stars

8 2 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 28 September 2024

Fantastic poem chosen by Poem Hunter and Team as The Modern Poem Of The Day.

0 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 28 September 2024

FINAL COMMENT: It also reflects the conventions of the Romantic era, with its emphasis on nature, imagination, and the supernatural.. Excellent poem. TOP Marks

0 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 28 September 2024

Compared to Poe's other works, 'Fairy-Land' falls within his oeuvre of Gothic and macabre themes, but with a focus on the surreal and dreamlike rather than the horrific.

0 0 Reply

they are all bad THRASHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

0 2 Reply
SSSSSSSSSSSSS 26 May 2020

TRASH SONGGGGGGGGGSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

0 3 Reply
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