Eleonora - Edgar Allan Poe

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Eleonora by Edgar Allan Poe. I am come of a
race noted for vigor of fancy and ardor of passion.
Men have called me mad, But the question is not
yet settled whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence,
whether much that is glorious, whether all that is profound

(00:22):
does not spring from disease of thought, from moods of
mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect. They
who dream by day are cognizant of many things which
escape those who dream only by night. In their gray
visions they obtain glimpses of eternity and thrill in awakening
to find that they have been upon the verge of

(00:42):
the great secret. In snatches they learn something of the
wisdom which is of good, and more of the mere knowledge,
which is of evil. They penetrate, however rudderless or compassless,
into the vast ocean of the light ineffable. And again,
like the adventures of the Nubian geographer AGGRESSI sunt mare

(01:03):
tenebraum queed in ao asset exploratari. We will say then
that I am mad. I grant at least that there
are two distinct conditions of my mental existence, the condition
of elucid reason not to be disputed and belonging to
the memory of events forming the first epoch of my life,
and a condition of shadow and doubt appertaining to the

(01:25):
present and to the recollection of what constitutes the second
great era of my being. Therefore, what I shall tell
of the earlier period, believe, and to what I may
relate of the later time, give only such credit as
may seem due, or doubt it altogether. For if doubt it,
ye cannot then play unto its riddle. The Oedipus, she

(01:47):
whom I loved the youth, and of whom I now
pen calmly and distinctly these remembrances, was the sole daughter
of the only sister of my mother, long departed. Eleonora
was the name of my cousin. We had always dwelled
together beneath the tropical sun, in the valley of the
many colored grass. No unguided footstep ever came upon that vale,

(02:09):
for it lay away up among a range of giant
hills that hung beetling around about it, shutting out the
sunlight from its sweetest recesses. No path was trodden in
its vicinity, and to reach our happy home, there was
need of putting back with force the foliage of many
thousands of forest trees, and of crushing to death the

(02:30):
glories of many millions of fragrant flowers. Thus it was
that we lived all alone, knowing nothing of the world.
Without the valley, I and my cousin and her mother.
From the dim regions beyond the mountains at the upper
end of our encircled domain, there crept out a narrow
and deep river, brighter than all save the eyes of Eleonora,

(02:51):
and winding stealthily about in mazy courses, it passed away
at length through a shadowy gorge, among hills still dimmer
than those whence it had issued. We called it the
river of Silence, for there seemed to be a hushing
influence in its flow. No murmur arose from its bed,
and so gently it wandered along that the pearly pebbles

(03:13):
upon which we loved to gaze far down within its bosom,
stirred not at all, but lay in a motionless content,
each in its own old station, shining on gloriously forever.
The margin of the river, and of the many dazzling
rivulets that glided through devious ways into its channel, as

(03:33):
well as the spaces that extended from the margins away
down into the depths of the streams until they reached
the bed of pebbles at the bottom. These spots, not
less than the whole surface of the valley, from the
river to the mountains that girdled in it, were carpeted
all by a soft green grass, thick, short, perfectly even,
and vanilla perfumed, but so besprinkled throughout with the yellow buttercup,

(03:56):
the white daisy, the purple violet, and the ruby red
apps fidel that its exceeding beauties spoke to our hearts
in loud tones of the love and of the glory
of God. And here and there in groves about this
grass like wildernesses of dreams sprang up fantastic trees, whose tall,
slender stems stood not upright, but slanted gracefully toward the

(04:20):
light that peered at noonday into the center of the valley.
Their mark was speckled with the vivid alternate splendor of
ebony and silver, and was smoother than all save the
cheeks of eleanora, So that but for the brilliant green
of the huge leaves that spread from their summits, and
long tremulous lines dallying with the zephyrs. One might have

(04:42):
fancied them giant serpents of Syria, doing homage to their
sovereign the Sun. Hand in hand about this valley for
fifteen years roamed eye with Eleanora, before love entered within
our hearts. It was one evening, at the close of
the third lustroom of her life and of the fourth
of my own, that we sat locked in each other's embrace,

(05:02):
beneath the serpent like trees, and looked down within the
water of the River of Silence at our images therein.
We spoke no words during the rest of that sweet day,
and our words even upon the morrow were tremulous and few.
We had drawn the God arrows from that wave, and
now we felt that he had enkindled within us the
fiery souls of our forefathers. The passions which had for

(05:26):
centuries distinguished our race, came thronging with the fancies for
which they had been equally noted, and together breathed the
delirious bliss over the valley of the many colored grass.
A change fell upon all things, strange, brilliant, flowers star shaped,
burned out upon the trees where no flowers had been
known before. The tints of the green carpet deepened, And

(05:49):
when one by one the white daisies shrank away, there
sprang up in place of them, ten by ten of
the ruby red asphodel, and life arose in our paths.
For the tall flamingo, hitherto unseen with all gay glowing birds,
flaunted his scarlet plumage before us. The golden and silver
fish haunted the river, out of the bosom of which

(06:11):
issued little by little a murmur that swell at length
into a lulling melody more divine than that of the
harp of Aeolus, sweeter than all save the voice of Eleonora.
And now too of all huminous cloud which we had
long watched in the regions of hesper floated out. Thence,
all gorgeous and crimsoning gold, and settling in peace above us,

(06:34):
sank day by day lower by lower, until its edges
rested upon the tops of the mountains, turning all their
dimness into magnificence, and shutting us up, as if forever
within a magic prison house of grandeur and of glory.
The loveliness of Eleonora was that of the Seraphim. But
she was a maiden, artless and innocent. As the brief

(06:57):
life she had led among the flowers. No godle disguise
the fervor of love which animated her heart, And she
examined with me its inmost recesses, as we walked together
in the valley of the many colored grass, and discoursed
of the mighty changes which had lately taken place therein
at length, having spoken one day in tears of the

(07:18):
last sad change which must befall humanity, she thenceforward dwelt
only upon this one sorrowful theme, interweaving it into all
our converse. As in the songs of the Bard of Charaz,
the same images are found occurring again and again in
every impressive variation of phrase. She had seen that the

(07:39):
finger of death was upon her bosom, that like the Ephemeron,
she had been made perfect in loveliness, only to die.
But the terrors of the grave to her lay solely
in a consideration which she revealed to me one evening
at twilight by the banks of the River of Silence.
She grieved to think that having entombed her in the

(08:00):
valley of the many colored grass, I would quit forever
its happy recesses, transferring the love which now was so
passionately her own to some maiden of the outer in
everyday world. And then and there I threw myself hurriedly
at the feet of Eleanora and offered up a vow
to herself and to Heaven, that I would never bind

(08:22):
myself in marriage to any daughter of Earth, that I would,
in no manner prove recreant to her dear memory, or
to the memory of the devout affection with which she
had blessed me. And I called the mighty Ruler of
the universe to witness the pious solemnity of my vow
and the curse which I invoked of him and of
her a saint in illusion. Should I prove traitorous to

(08:45):
that promise, involve the penalty the exceeding great horror of
which will not permit me to make record of it. Here.
And the bright eyes of Eleanora grew brighter at my words,
and she sighed as if a deadly burthen had been
taken from her breast, and she trembled, and very bitterly wept.
But she made acceptance of the vow, for what was
she but a child? And it made easy to her

(09:07):
the bed of her death. And she said to me
not many days afterward, tranquility dying, that because of what
I had done for the comfort of her spirit, she
would watch over me in that spirit when departed, and
if so it were permitted, her return to me visibly
in the watches of the night. But if this thing
were indeed beyond the power of the souls in paradise,

(09:30):
that she would at least give me frequent indications of
her presence, sighing upon me in the evening winds, or
filling the air which I breathed with perfume from the
censures of the angels. And with these words upon her lips,
she yielded up her innocent life, putting an end to
the first epoch of my own. Thus far, I have

(09:52):
faithfully said. But as I passed the barrier in times
path formed by the death of my beloved, and proceed
with the second era my existence, I feel that a
shadow gathers over my brain, and I mistrust the perfect
sanity of the record. But let me on years dragged
themselves along heavily, and still I dwelled within the valley

(10:14):
of the many colored grass. But a second change had
come upon all things. The star shaped flowers shrank into
the stems of the trees and appeared no more. The
tints of the green carpet faded, and one by one
the ruby red asphodels withered away, and there sprang up
in place of them, ten by ten, dark i like

(10:36):
violets that writhed uneasily and were ever encumbered with a dew.
And life departed from our paths. For the tall flamingo
flaunted no longer his scarlet plumage before us, but flew
sadly from the vale into the hills with all the gay,
glowing birds that had arrived in his company. And the
golden and silver fish swam down through the gorge at

(10:59):
the lower end of our domain and bedecked the sweet
river never again. And the lulling melody that had been
softer than the wind harpavolus, and more divine than all
save the voice of Eleanora, it died little by little
away in murmurs, growing lower and lower, until the stream
returned at length utterly into the solemnity of its original silence,

(11:24):
And then Lastly, the voluminous cloud uprose, and, abandoning the
tops of the mountains to the dimness of old, fell
back into the regions of hesper, and took away all
its manifold, golden and gorgeous glories from the valley of
the many colored grass. Yet the promises of Eleanora were
not forgotten. For I heard the sounds of the swinging

(11:46):
of the censures of the angels, and streams of a
holy perfume floated ever and ever about the valley. And
at lone hours, when my heart beat heavily, the winds
that bathed my brow came unto me, laden with soft
sighs and indistinct murmurs, filled often the night air, And once,
oh but once only, I was awakened from a slumber

(12:08):
like the slumber of death, by the pressing of spiritual
lips upon my own. But the void within my heart
refused even thus to be filled. I longed for the
love which had before filled it to overflowing. At length,
the valley pained me through its memories of Eleanora, and
I left it forever for the vanities and the turbulent
triumphs of the world. I found myself within a strange city,

(12:33):
where all things might have served to blot from recollection
the sweet dreams I had dreamed so long in the
valley of the many colored grass. The pomps and pageant
trees of a stately court, and the mad clangor of arms,
and the radiant loveliness of women bewildered and intoxicated my brain.
But as yet my soul had proved true to its vows,

(12:54):
and the indications of the presence of Eleonora were still
given me in the silent hours of the night. Suddenly
these manifestations they ceased, and the world grew dark before
mine eyes. And I stood aghast at the burning thoughts
which possessed at the terrible temptations which beset me. For

(13:14):
there came from some far, far distant and unknown land,
into the gay court of the king, I served a
maiden to whose beauty my whole recreant heart yielded at once,
at whose footstool I bowed down without a struggle, in
the most ardent, in the most abject worship of love.
What indeed was my passion for the young girl of
the valley, In comparison with the fervor and the delirium

(13:37):
and the spirit lifting ecstasy of adoration, with which I
poured out my whole soul and tears at the feet
of the ethereal Ermengarde. Oh bright was the seraph Ermengarde,
and in that knowledge I had room for none other.
Oh divine was the angel Ermengarde. And as I looked
down into the depths of her memorial eyes, I thought

(13:59):
only of them, and of her. I wedded nor dreaded
the curse I had invoked, and its bitterness was not
visited upon me. And once, but once again, in the
silence of the night, there came through my lattice the
soft sighs which had forsaken me, and they modeled themselves
into familiar and sweet voice, saying, sleep in peace, for

(14:26):
the spirit of Love reigneth and ruleth. And in taking
to thy passionate heart her who is Ermengarde, thou art
absolv'd for reasons which shall be made known to thee
in heaven of thy vowels. Unto Eleanora. End of Eleanora