Question

Read the excerpt below from the poem “Ulalume” by Edgar Allan Poe and answer the question that follows. The skies they were ashen and sober; The leaves they were crispéd and sere— The leaves they were withering and sere; It was night in the lonesome October Of my most immemorial year; It was hard by the dim lake of Auber, In the misty mid region of Weir— It was down by the dank tarn of Auber, In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir. Here once, through an alley Titanic, Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul— Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul. These were days when my heart was volcanic As the scoriac rivers that roll— As the lavas that restlessly roll Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek In the ultimate climes of the pole— That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek In the realms of the boreal pole. Our talk had been serious and sober, But our thoughts they were palsied and sere— Our memories were treacherous and sere— For we knew not the month was October, And we marked not the night of the year— (Ah, night of all nights in the year!) We noted not the dim lake of Auber— (Though once we had journeyed down here)— We remembered not the dank tarn of Auber, Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir. Source: Poe, Edgar Allan. “Ulalume.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 June 2011. Which words from the poem help evoke the mood and set a place and time?

Answer 1

The opening line of the poem gives us an idea about the mood of the poem.

The phrase "ashen and sober" prepares the reader for the grim and sorrowful mood of the speaker. It helps the reader focus on the landscape.

The dry brown leaves too help us understand the cold and sorrowful mood of the poem.

He uses the words "dim" and and "dank" to reiterate the grim mood.

The speaker is seeing the "morning star" or Venus, so it is quite obvious that it is around dawn.