# Ulalume explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Edgar Allan Poe.

## What happens

The narrator wanders through a ghoul-haunted woodland with his soul, Psyche, on a night in October, unaware of the significance of the date. They encounter a crescent moon that the narrator sees as a hopeful guide, but Psyche mistrusts it. They proceed to a tomb, which reveals the name of his lost love, Ulalume, and the narrator realizes he has unknowingly returned to her grave on the anniversary of her burial.

## Themes in this chapter

### Loss and Grief

The narrator's journey to the tomb of his lost love Ulalume on the anniversary of her death embodies profound grief.

### Madness and Terror

The ghoul-haunted setting, Psyche's terror, and the narrator's unwitting return to the grave evoke madness and dread.

## Character check-ins

### Narrator

The grieving speaker who roams with Psyche and discovers the tomb of his lost Ulalume.

### Psyche

The narrator's soul, who senses danger and mistrusts the crescent moon, but is persuaded to continue.

### Death

Implied presence through the tomb of Ulalume and the theme of loss.

## Key lines

> It was night in the lonesome October / Of my most immemorial year;

It was a lonely October night in a year I will never forget.

_Sets the scene of a memorable, sorrowful autumn night._

> And I said—'What is written, sweet sister, / On the door of this legended tomb?' / She replied—'Ulalume—Ulalume— / 'Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!'

I asked Psyche what was inscribed on the tomb, and she answered that it was the resting place of my lost Ulalume.

_Climactic revelation that the narrator has unknowingly come to his beloved's grave._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_4_se/chapters/ulalume
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_4_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_4_se/chapters