Ulalume Symbolism, Imagery & Wordplay

The opening image of the "ashen and sober" skies helps to set the mood in this poem. It prepares us for the generally grim, sorrowful mood of the speaker. It also focuses our attention on the lan...

These dry brown leaves give us another image of the dark, cold mood that's hanging over this poem at the beginning. The speaker also makes it pretty clear that these leaves are symbolic of his own...

This is another pretty strong image from the opening stanza. The speaker doesn't use a ton of words to describe this lake, but he doesn't really have to. Just a few well-chosen adjectives are eno...

There's more spooky, dark imagery here. On a dark night full of shadows, we bet these tall cypress trees would be really creepy.Line 12: There's some really great alliteration in this line. Check...

This starts off seeming like a passing thought, a quick detour, but then it turns into something much bigger. Without much warning, we spin off on an adventure that takes an entire stanza. The sp...

The speaker actually spends a lot of time on this image. At first, it's not quite clear what we're looking at. The speaker sees a glowing object rising in the sky at the end of the trail. As the...

We think that, as a symbol of death and sorrow, there's nothing more important in this poem than the tomb. On top of that, it's just a really vivid image, sort of rearing out of the wilderness lik...

Looking for some thoughts on these mythological references? Head on over to "Allusions." See you there.