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  1. Poe's "Sepulchre by the Sea": Love and Death in Victorian America

    Date(s): May 1849 to 1849 Location: NEW YORK, New York Tag(s): Cult of Death, Disease, Poetry, Edgar Allan Poe, Annabel Lee, tuberculosis, love 

    Edgar Allan Poe spent his final months in poverty, tormented by grief, drowning his depression in alcohol and poetry. In May 1849, in his small New York cottage, he wrote what was to be his last completed poem, “Annabel Lee,” in which he returned to the themes that had haunted him for much of his life. The poem, set long ago in a kingdom by the sea, describes the speaker’s undying love for the...

  2. Undying Devotion: The Glorification of Sacrifice

    Date(s): July 14, 1861 Location: Washington City, District of Columbia Tag(s): Cult of Death, Victorian Era, Love letter, Rhode Island, Battle of Bull Run, Civil War 

    Encamped in the wilderness of Virginia, mere days before his death in the first battle of the Civil War, a young major set pen to paper and began to write. In poignant eloquence, Sullivan Ballou described the conflicting forces at the heart of his identity. Though consumed by undying love for his wife, his patriotic devotion drove him forward toward battle—and death.“[M]y love of Country,”...