Let the bell toll!—a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river
he continues:
And, Guy de Vere, hast thou no tear?—weep now, or never more.
This, no doubt, was in tune with the fashionable romance of the day, but Poe’s romantic conceptions at times were those of one who was especially entranced by stage trappings. He made his heroines rich and highborn as well as beautiful. In “Lenore” he cries:
Wretches, ye loved her for her wealth, and hated her for her pride!
In “The Sleeper” he speaks of:
The crested palls
Of her grand family funerals.
In “Annabel Lee” he made the very angels heroes of the green-room:
Her highborn kinsmen came